Dead Breath of Life
by deathbearABC123
Summary: After the Whisperer War the survivors in Alexandria were left facing the largest horde of walkers they had ever encountered. After being overwhelmed, Rick and co. find themselves in a strange new setting.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: The Walking Dead is owned by Image comics and Robert Kirkman, and RWBY is owned and property of Rooster Teeth. I own nothing.**

 **A/N: The characters from the walking dead are from the original comic universe so they will be different from how they are in the show. And if you aren't caught up with the latest issue this will contain spoilers.**

* * *

Dead moans filled the air as thousands upon thousands of the undead filled in the Alexandria Safe-Zone. The walls meant nothing. The trenches outside the walls meant nothing. The gate that had once kept the people safe had fallen under the sheer number of the dead being pushed up against it. The Whisper war was over, but in the aftermath chaos thrived.

Rick Grimes, a man who had lived through so much never felt as helpless in the apocalypse as he did right now. He had recovered after the Governor severed his right hand. He carried the pain of losing Lori and Baby Judith, but was able to move on after time. Even after the injury done to his leg, and watching countless friends die were all obstacles he was able to overcome. But now…

He just didn't know.

 _It always seems like this at first,_ he reasoned with himself. _But we find a way. We always do._

The former small town cop was currently taking refuge in one of the houses of Alexandria to escape from the ocean of walkers that had flooded into the communities walls. _Christ, there weren't nearly this many when the last horde got in two years ago._ The memory of himself and his friends being forced to take shelter during the event he had dubbed, No Way Out, surfaced to the forefront of his mind. Hard to believe that was nearly two years ago.

Two years ago.

Hard to believe it had been that long since then. Even harder to believe it had been four years total since the whole fall of civilization and the dead began feasting on the flesh of the living. Just how long ago had it been where those crazed Whisperers had started wearing walker skins as a means to survive?

Rick didn't hold the answer to that. He just wished that Dwight and the rest of the militia had been able to eliminate Beta before he unleashed the mega herd on his community.

At least Dwight was out there right now beyond the walls trying to lure as many walkers away to get them outside of the walls. The former Savior lieutenant had really stepped up and became one of Rick's most trusted allies after his betrayal to his former leader two years ago. Rick just wished his body allowed him to be out there helping him, or Andrea and Michonne, or Jesus, or anyone.

But no. because of his leg and missing appendage he wasn't as cut out for the heat of battle as he once was. Instead he found himself hiding away in an empty house with the one person he never thought he would.

"Fuck. Those blue-balled motherfuckers don't stop coming. Just like Clinton all over Monica's titties." Negan observed, peeking out the window into the walker infested street.

Yes. Negan. The former leader of the Saviors was who he was hunkered down with. Honestly if Rick were to go back in time and tell himself two years ago that he was in a room with Negan with a loaded gun, but hadn't fired yet, he would have gotten hit in the face by his past self.

The war between the three united communities and Negan's Saviors had culminated at The Battle of Hilltop, where Rick had gotten the jump on Negan and defeated him. Of course Negan had broken his one leg during that battle and forced him to walk with a cane, but Rick had kept him alive. He wanted to show the man just how wrong he had been in his philosophy of the strong "helping" the weak. So he kept him alive, turned a basement in Alexandria into a prison cell and kept Negan locked up for two years straight.

Andrea had objected to the idea, but accepted it all the same. Carl, had tried killing him at one point, but backed down at his father's command. Maggie was the one that concerned him the most. She wanted him dead for sure, but Rick was able to convince her with the notion that Glenn would want him to live and die in a prison where he belonged.

He had intended Negan to stay locked up for the rest of his days, but that evidently proved false.

When Rick told him of the problem between their communities and the Whisperers, Negan had gotten out, snuck into their camp and beheaded their leader, Alpha, and presented it to Rick and Andrea both.

Something had changed in Negan since he was imprisoned. He looked at Rick with more respect almost as if to say "you beat me, you got balls for that." He could have just walked off, he could have joined with the Whisperers, but instead he helped Rick. Not even an hour ago when the gate had fallen, Negan was the only person who came back to help him run to safety.

Rick even surprised himself when he blew out the brains of a walker that was about to bite Negan from behind.

"Take a look out there," Negan told him. "On a scale of 'just the tip' to 'cunt buster' just how royally fucked do you think we are?" Rick gripped his cane as he stood up and cautiously peeked out the window.

There were still hundreds of them inside the walls, maybe even a thousand altogether. But it was not as large as it had been before. "It's thinning out." Rick dryly stated. "Dwight and the others must be doing a good job of drawing them away outside."

Scoffing at the mention of Dwight, Negan said, "You really think Two-Face is going to be able to handle this fuck load? The man can't even come to accept that his wife was cheating on him."

"With you, you mean?" Rick sardonically asked.

Negan smirked. "Sherry had a meat log on the side loooooong before I came into the picture."

An image of Lori and Shane came to Rick's mind. "It might be clear enough for you to make a break for the armory." Rick changed the subject.

"Are you fucking for real right now?" Negan questioned. "I only have a kitchen knife remember?" Negan waved the knife around for further emphasis. "It's not like I have-, a gun or something. How about yours?"

"Not a chance." Rick firmly told him. "I told you before, that you will be allowed to help, but without a gun." He knew Negan was not actually asking for a gun. He was asking for the item that had ended Glenn's life. Lucille.

To bad for him the bat broke.

From what Dwight had told him after the initial battle against the Whisperers, Negan had been using Lucille to deal a beating to Beta, only to hit him so hard that the wood shattered and splintered. He actually dug a grave for it afterwards.

"So you expect me to go into the armory, pick up a bunch of sweet fucking guns, and not actually use one of them?!" Negan demanded. "That is some pretty fucked logic right there."

"Flawed or not, I don't trust you enough to handle one."

Negan had the gall to look offended. "Really? Even after I saved your crippled ass an hour ago? Even after I killed someone who was planning on betraying you? Even after I brought you that bitches head back after what she did to your people? You still don't fucking trust me?"

Rick's fixed him with a deadpan expression. "You're the reason my leg is the way it is."

"Annnnnnd, I saved you because of it," Negan countered. "That has to make up for it right?" Rick didn't respond. " _Tch._ Is this how you converse with all of your friends?"

"We are _not_ friends." Rick strictly told him. "Your bar for friendship is too low. I've made it clear where you fall into the new society."

Negan didn't seem all that phased by his rejection. "Keep telling yourself that Ricky Dicky Grimes. It's like I told you before. You and I are a lot alike."

Rick wouldn't dignify that with a response.

 _BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!_

 _BRAKKA!BRAKKA!BRAKKA!BRAKKA!_

 _KPOW!KPOW!KPOW!_

The sound of rapid automatic fire was enough to drown out the moans and groans of the decaying corpses outside of the house. Being attracted to sound, many of the walkers began to herd themselves in the direction of the loud noise, much to Rick's pleasure.

Negan let out a whistle. "Sounds like Dwighty boy and the dick brigade are making quite a stand."

Rick nodded in agreement. "That is the plan."

"Actually letting me in on your plan?" Negan asked. "I knew you'd warm up to me eventually."

"Fuck you." Rick said.

"Like I ain't a funny motherfucker."

"You're not," Rick told him. "Don't misunderstand me Negan, me telling you what the plan is doesn't change anything between us."

"Only that you trust me with that information," Negan remarked, much to his annoyance. "Kind of fucking hypocritical considering you said you didn't trust me with a gun."

 _BLAM!BLAM!_

 _KPOW!KPOW!KPOW!_

"Fuck. Things must be getting pretty fucking heated out there." More walkers had moved out of the windows view and allowing the two men a look at the main street of Alexandria. Rick saw Paula's mangled body lying sprawled out in the middle of the street. Not a single piece of flesh remained on her body which gave her the appearance of having being stripped by piranhas.

"Think you can make it to the armory now?" Rick asked.

"Hmm. I don't know, will you let me use one if I could? It would be a lot fucking easier than stabbing them, or crushing them under the might of my freight train cock." Negan said in that sarcastic tone he had taken when he made his first introduction to Rick. "And you know it would too."

Rick still remained hesitant. "Come on!" Negan complained. "If I wanted you dead I would have left you to get eaten. Or I could just stab you right here and now. I doubt you could stop me grandpa." Negan mocked Rick's appearance.

"I'm thirty-eight," Rick retorted.

"And you look like you could end up on the cover for fucking Old Man Monthly."

"Can you make it to the armory or not?" Rick repeated his question.

"Fuck if I know," Negan dryly answered. "As long as I don't get swarmed, I'm as golden as a shower." Rick nodded and walked over to the door.

"There's two right outside this door," Rick told him. "The rest have more or less moved all the way to the back wall, or are going near those gunshots. Get to the armory, and we might be able to help out."

Shrugging, Negan stood up and gripped his kitchen knife. "You're the boss." Whether he meant that to be sarcastic or not, Rick was unsure.

"Same as before," Rick said. "I'll cover you from here as you make a break for it. Grab what you can, and come _right back_ here."

"Don't get your panties in a twist Richie," Negan said. "If there is one thing I excel at, besides beating the fucking shit out of the undead is pleasuring people." _Yeah, right._ Rick opened the door.

"Go!" He shouted and Negan ran out. Rick watched as the larger man thrust his knife through the skull of one walker, while simultaneously kicking the others legs out from underneath it. Not even bothering to stab the fallen walker, Negan opted for the easier option of just stomping its face in.

"Curbed fucker!" Negan yelled in excitement as he cut down a few more walkers on his way to the armory across the street.

"I better not regret this," Rick said to himself as he shot down a walker that was lurking up behind Negan.

Hearing his shot fired, Negan had the nerve to give Rick a thumbs up before disappearing inside of the armory. Now Rick just had to wait until Negan reemerged. Putting his blind faith in a man such as Negan was not an idea Rick liked to entertain. But still, perhaps Negan had changed during his imprisonment.

No.

No, what was he thinking. Negan was still the same lethargic, profound, brute he had been before. He was just helping out to get in Rick's good books. And even if Negan did help out now, it didn't change what he had done in the past. Just how many people would still be alive if Negan wasn't a problem?

 _BWHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_

The sound of a large horn being blown was heard. Rick tore his gaze away from the armory to try and see if he could spot the horn blower. No, of course he couldn't it was being blown from outside. But he recognized the horn well enough. It was the type Eugene had invented to herd large groups of walkers. And one of the people to have one was-, "Andrea."

The idea that his girlfriend had completed her task of driving a portion of the herd into the ocean filled Rick with a sense of hope he thought lost. They always did find a way.

The horn blew again, but this time it was different.

 _BWHAAAAA! BWHAAAAAA! BWHAAAAAAAAAAAA!_

Three blasts straight in a row. Rick knew what that meant. And the hope he had been feeling one moment was replaced by a cold constricting fear that creeped its way up his spine to send shivers all over his body.

Somebody was hurt, or dying.

 _BRAKKA!BRAKKA!BRAKKA!BRAKKA!BRAKKA!BRAKKA!_

The sound of gunfire returned once more, but instead of hearing the ceased moaning of walkers, he heard the yells and cries of the living. There was a battle going on outside, and it wasn't just against the walkers.

Rick's first thoughts went to the Whisperers, but he knew that wasn't the case. Dwight and Michonne both confirmed that nearly all of those maniacs had been put down, with the exception of Beta. The only other option he could think of were, the Saviors.

"Fuck!" Rick cursed at the realization. It made sense. They had withheld sending troops to battle the Whisperers for a reason: to attack after the war was over. But who was leading them? Dwight had taken over after Negan's downfall, but had given it up when he felt he wasn't cut out for it. So who?

" _Gruugh!_ " A walker grumbled as it made its way over to Rick who stood in the threshold of the open door. Feeling a surge of adrenalin take its hold on him, Rick struck the walker on the side of its head with his pistol. The corpse fell the ground, and Rick brought his cane down so hard it went right through the eye socket with a sickening _s-plop_!

He failed to notice a second walker blindside him, until he felt the cold touch of its rotting flesh brush the back of his neck. His left hand, and metal claw right hand grappled with the walker, as he tried to push it away from himself.

Rick lost the grip on his cane and the both of them fell to the ground with the walker on top of him. Rick used his metal claw to poke the things eye out, but not enough to get to the brain. The walker snarled as it snapped its exposed and rotting teeth mere inches from his face.

 _KAKRAK!_

The butt of a rifle slammed itself onto the walkers head hard enough to knock it off of Rick. Negan brought the rifle down again on the walker hard enough to crack the skull open. "Fuck! You're going soft Rick Grimes."

Negan had a multitude of guns slung over his shoulders and a handful of sidearm's strapped to his belt. He reached down and offered a hand to Rick, which he took at damage to his pride. "Is this going to be like a thing now?" Negan asked. "Me saving your ass? Because I have a lot of fucked things to make square with you don't I?"

"We have to get beyond the walls," Rick told him once he was back on his feet.

"Have you gone fucking nuts?!" Negan asked. "Douche bag Dwight has things covered outside. We have to worry about ourselves."

"Andrea is out there," Rick insisted further.

Negan pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look a guy like me knows the joy of getting laid, but getting your ass killed and your cock eaten is going a bit too far."

"They're under attack!" Rick argued further. "By your former people."

Negan looked confused. "What the fuck do my Saviors have to do with this shit?!"

"They're not your Saviors anymore," Rick told him. "Someone else is leading them!"

" _Grrrruuuuuuuggghhhhhhh!_ " A large group of walkers had made their way over to where Rick and Negan were.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuckity fuck!" Negan yelled as he pulled Rick inside of the house and slammed the door shut.

 _Boom!_

The mass of undead crashed into the door with enough force to knock a man like Negan down. "Fucking fuckers!" Negan shoved himself against the door as it was close to being knocked off of its hinge's.

A line of perspiration formed on Negan's brow as he attempted to hold the door closed. "Hey!" Negan shouted at Rick. "Just because you're a fucking cripple doesn't mean you're useless! Get your fucking ass over here and help godfuckingdamnit!"

Limping his way over, Rick put all of his weight into his shoulder as he helped push back against the tide of walkers on the other side of the door. He had to shift weight to his left leg, as his right would only flare up in pain if he put too much pressure on it.

"I-it's not going to-," Rick said as he felt the door being pushed back more on their side as the undead began to stick their rotting limbs in to try and grab at the both of them.

"I don't fucking care! Just fucking-!"

 _KRICK!_

The door was knocked right off the hinges and a horde of the undead filed into the house.

Negan acted fast and un-slung a machine gun from over his shoulder and began firing off into the mass of advancing corpses. "Fuck you all right up your asses and right out your mouths!" He yelled in a mad rage.

Rick fired off his own shots as well, taking down half a dozen of them. But they still kept pouring in. "No." Rick said as the both of them were backed into a literal corner. "This isn't… this can't be…"

He became increasingly less aware of whatever profanity Negan was shouting next to him, as cold rotting hands reached towards the both of them, pulling them ever so closer to gnarled teeth and milky white eyes.

As white as the grave.

* * *

…

…

…

…

…ck."

"…ick."

"…Rick."

Someone was… calling for him?

"…Rick."

Who was that? Rick? Was that his name? Yeah, yeah that sounded right. Rick. Rick Grimes

"…Rick!"

That voice sounded familiar. Who did it belong to?

"Rick!" whoever it was shouted a little more forcefully than necessary. He did know that voice. It was someone he called a friend.

"Rick!"

His eyes snapped open to a blinding white light forcing him to squint due to the harsh brightness. He felt sheets under and over him. They were warm and soft. A glace to his right saw an IV running out of his arm and to a monitor. He was in a hospital.

Harrison Memorial Hospital?

Was it all just a dream? He lifted his right arm to see the metallic claw hand was still attached to his stump. No, it wasn't a dream.

"Rick?" His eyes picked up the form of Jesus sitting in a chair next to his bed. "You're awake."

"And alive?" Rick had to ask. This couldn't possibly be real. He was about to die, how could he be- wherever this place was.

"As alive as I am," Jesus told him, but he didn't smile. He looked as confused as Rick himself. Sitting up in his bed, Rick looked around to see other people he knew laying on other hospital beds. There was Carl and Lydia, Maggie her baby and Sophia, Magna and Yumiko, Eugene, Dwight, Laura, Michonne, and Andrea. Negan was out of his bed and looking out a window at something or other.

So the both of them had somehow survived.

"Where are we?" Rick asked Jesus. The biblical look-a-like just shrugged.

"I remember luring the herd away from Alexandria. It was getting bad, we were being swarmed. And then- somehow I fell from my horse and was surrounded by all of you in a forest of red trees."

"The Forever Fall, is the correct term," a new voice said from the entrance to the assumed medical ward. Rick reached for his gun, only to find that he did not have it on him. The new arrival seemed to pick up on his movement. "Relax. Your weapons are fine, and you will be as well."

"Who are you?" Rick demanded of the man. "What is this place?"

The man took a sip from his coffee mug. "You can just call me Professor Ozpin."

* * *

A/N: That's the first chapter. If you haven't read the latest issue #165 of The Walking Dead this is set in an AU around that time just to put some perspective on it. Thankyou for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Walking Dead is owned by Image Comics ans Robert Kirkman, and RWBY is owned and property of Rooster Teeth. I own nothing.**

 **A/N: Again this is from the comic universe of walking dead, but a large portion of this chapter has a somewhat abridged version of the events of the comics for sow only watchers.**

* * *

Critical eyes observed the newcomer with a cold and scrutinizing gaze. He was dressed in a strange and unusual fashion. A dark green suit and scarf contrasted with his white hair, and his cane gave him an almost elderly appearance as well as the impression of a classic movie wizard.

Save for his cane, this "Ozpin" did not appear to be armed with a weapon. Unless he splashed hot coffee in someone's face of course. There was certainly something off about this man, of that Rick was absolutely sure. He just didn't know what.

"How are you feeling?" Ozpin asked Rick, who sat up in the bed provided. Instead of answering right away, Rick took a minute to try and determine if Ozpin's tone of voice held a trace of any hidden meaning. The Governor had been all smiles when Rick first met him.

Ozpin picked up on his hesitation. "There's no trick," he told Rick. "You asked a question, and I answered. I think it's only fair if you do the same."

"…I'm fine. A bit disoriented, but I'm fine." Rick finally answered.

"I would hope so," Ozpin said. "You had been unconscious for nearly a day. I would consider it good fortune a team of hunters found you when they did. An unusual amount of Grimm were moving to where you were found."

 _Grimm?_ Rick wondered. That must be what they call walkers, wherever we are. The dead had many names ranging from roamers, lurkers, skulkers, and of course walkers. But grimm was a fitting name as any.

Rick looked at all the other occupants. Were these honestly all the people left? "Were there any others?" Rick asked. "From Alexandria? Were there any other people you found?" Dealing with a horde of that caliber must have been a nightmare to maneuver through.

"Alexandria?" Ozpin repeated with a glance cast to Jesus who still sat next to Rick's bed.

"We discussed this when I woke up," Jesus told him.

"Ah yes, I remember now. That is the name of your community, correct?"

Rick looked to Jesus. "You talked with him already?" Jesus was a good judge of character, and Rick would listen to his advice. If Jesus felt comfortable talking to a stranger like this man, it was at least a good sign that he meant no ill intentions.

"Briefly," Jesus curtly replied. "He explained a team of his retrieved us from that strange forest. But how we got there to begin with is a still a mystery to the both of us. He stopped by once again after _he_ woke up." Rick followed Jesus' gaze to the form of Negan, who leaned against a wall still looking out the window. "Ozpin had some questions for him as well."

"What did he say?" Rick asked. If anyone knew how the two of them had somehow escaped that swarm, then Negan might be the key to that. Ozpin looked like he was trying to find the right words.

"Let's just say to your friend has a very colorful vocabulary," Ozpin settled on. Negan heard him, and without looking away from the window flipped him off. "I don't believe he was in a good mood."

"Friend is a strong word," Rick cautioned the use of the word. "But that does sound like him." Jesus offered him a hand and helped him out of the bed. His cane and Sherpa lined jacket were placed neatly on a trunk at the foot of the bed. "What did you ask about?"

"The same questions I asked your friend Jesus." Ozpin told him. "You consider him to be a friend do you not?"

Rick nodded. "And what questions were those?" He could tell Ozpin was playing it safe. He had a system like that at Alexandria when taking in new people. Where did you come from? What did you do before? How many have you killed (dead and not)?

"Just simply what they remembered before being found in the Forever Fall. Negan kept his short and profound, while Jesus was much more professional." Ozpin took a sip of his coffee. "Yet despite their different approaches to my questions, they still seemed to share some rather fascinating consistencies."

"Such as…?" Rick asked. Negan and Jesus had been in two different places during the assault on the horde. What consistencies was Ozpin referring to?

"The one's involving dead corpses that feast on the flesh of the living," Ozpin clarified. "It made it rather hard to believe."

Was this guy for real?! Just what kind of a sheltered life had he been living for the past four years? He had called them grimm before so he should know all about them and the infection. Did he just assume they were just sick people like Hershel had when Rick first met him?

"Just what the hell are you trying to pull here?!" Rick demanded. "Are you seriously trying to make me think you have no idea what is going on out in the world?"

Ozpin showed no visible reaction to Rick's outburst, except for another sip of coffee. "I said it was hard to believe. I never said I never believe it. There is quite a difference between the two."

"And now you see why I told you to find some Viagra and use that to go and fuck yourself," Negan voiced, still looking out the window. "Snarky fuck."

"I think you have some explaining to do," Rick told Ozpin. The man was making no sense. "You mean to tell me that we were all found in a forest, knocked out, and were saved from being eaten alive by the monsters you find difficult to believe, and yet have a name for those same monsters?"

"The Grimm are monsters alright, but I believe we are referring to two different monsters here," Ozpin calmly responded. "And I will gladly explain the situation so long as you are willing to do the same. An exchange of information if you would?"

Rick still remained hesitant. "If I had meant any ill will towards any of you I wouldn't have sent a team out to retrieve you. It is my sworn duty to ensure the safety of all human lives, it is not easy but I try to the best of my abilities."

As far as Rick could tell, he sounded sincere. But goddamn it, something just felt so out of place for some reason. "Do you trust him?" Rick asked Jesus.

"I trust him enough to know he won't try anything." Nodding in understanding, Rick gave Ozpin his answer, "You have a deal then."

* * *

The sound of two canes clanking on the tiled floor echoed throughout the hall. Ozpin had offered a more private setting for the two of them to converse in his office. The walk there should have been boring, but Rick actually found himself fascinated by the design of the place.

It was freshly polished. He tried to have the people of his community keep things as neat as possible, or whatever counted as neat in their shitty world, but this one hallway practically gleamed and sparkled from the electric lamps that lined the walls.

"You have electricity running here?" He knew it was a stupid question. He was actually fascinated by lamps. That must be the telltale sign that that luxury had been taken for granite.

"I would be concerned if we did not." Well that wasn't putting Rick any more on edge.

"I don't think you ever answered when I asked where we are right now?" Rick asked once again.

"Right now we are in a hallway." Nine answer. "But on a larger perspective we are inside my school, Beacon Academy."

"So, like a college then?" Rick asked for further clarification. Anything that could help him get a read on where this Beacon was, the better.

"A combat institute for those looking to protect humanity from the dangers that plague it," Ozpin said as they continued to walk. Their canes almost clanking in sync as they continued. "Although given what your other two companions have told me, I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard of it."

The sounds of laughing came from around a corner they rounded and Rick was greeted with the sight of two men. One had graying hair and a large bushy moustache and was rather portly. The second was tall, lanky, and skinny with wild-green hair? He heard of teens dying their hair to be cool or hip, but on a grown man it looked a bit ridiculous.

The two of them noticed their approach. "Oh-ho!" the portly one said as he paused his conversation with his companion. "A pleasure to see you Ozpin my old friend!"

"And you as well Peter," Ozpin greeted back. "And to you as well Dr. Oobleck."

"ThepleasureisallmineHeadmaster!" He talked so fast his words appeared to blur together.

"I was just in the middle of telling our dear doctor about the time Tai tricked Qrow into wearing a skirt!" Peter laughed. "A true classic if there ever was one."

"So it is, so it is."

"And who is this newcomer?" Peter asked taking sight of Rick.

"One of the ones recovered from the Forever Fall yesterday," Ozpin answered. "We were just going to my office to have a word."

"Of course! Of course!" Peter agreed. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance good sir, Professor Peter Port at your service!" He extended a hand. "And who might you be?" Rick saw that unlike most, Port had reached out with his left hand. Slowly Rick reached out and locked his grip.

"Rick Grimes."

"Oh-ho! A fine grip you have. I can tell you have a great deal of experience under your belt. From one seasoned soldier to another."

"Please don't mind Peter," Ozpin told a very uncomfortable looking Rick. "He tends to be a bit eccentric at times."

"My apologies," Port said, somewhat humble. "Why don't we let the Headmaster be for now Bartholomew?"

"Thatwouldbeapreferrableoption." With that the two professors continued on their way down the hall. Rick watched their retreating forms with a bemused expression.

"The staff here might be unorthodox, but there are no other people I would rather have teaching the future generations of defenders." Ozpin's tone indicated that he was indeed close with both staff and student in this academy of his. "Shall we continue?"

* * *

Rick knew that if Ozpin was a Headmaster, his office would have to be impressive. He didn't expect to take an elevator straight to the top of a clock tower with gears spinning on the ceiling. But that was nothing compared to the view.

A three-sixty view of the academy. There was a courtyard leading up to the school from a cliff that had several strange airplanes landed. At least they looked like airplanes, just ones that he had never seen before in his life.

Just where the hell was Beacon? Were they even still in D.C anymore? It was unlikely. The scouts had mapped as much of the coast as they could, and they surly wouldn't have missed this. Is this what Negan had been looking at through the medical ward window?

"It truly is a sight isn't it?" Ozpin asked as he pulled up a chair for Rick to sit on. Rick sat-or rather fell back into the chair that was offered. His head was spinning with the possibilities of where exactly this place was, and just how they had gotten here. But that was why he agreed to meet with Ozpin like this anyway.

"This is… this is something else," Rick concluded. "Like something out of a bizarre Stephen King novel or something."

"Is that so? I always liked to think of it being more like a fairy tale." Ozpin offered him a cup of coffee, which Rick refused.

"How is a place like this possible?" Rick felt complied to ask. "How long did it take to get it the way it is?"

"With great time management and planning," Ozpin replied, not sarcastic, but not fully answering either. "As we agreed, an exchange of information. I will gladly answer all of your questions, but I only ask you first tell me about yourself, and how exactly you got to the point where we found you. If you remember at all that is."

"What exactly do you want to know about me?" Rick asked. He had lived his fare share of danger for the past four years.

"Both Negan and Jesus told me what they did before the 'outbreak.'" Ozpin told him. "Why not do the same. After all, the beginning is always the best place to start."

"It's bit of a long story."

"Perhaps the abridged version then?"

Rick sighed and took a breath. "I was a cop. I lived in Cynthia, Kentucky with my wife Lori, and son Carl. My best friend, Shane, and I got a call on our radio that a convict had escaped prison and was fleeing in a stolen car. We headed him off, drew our guns and a firefight ensued. I tried flanking him. I got shot.

"Next thing I remember, I was waking up a month later in an abandoned hospital. No one was there. Well, no one alive anyways. At the time I thought they were just sick people. The bodies were lined all outside, in the streets everywhere. I was alone. Alone with the thought of getting home and finding my family.

"Along the way I stopped to grab a bicycle, and that's when I knew something was really wrong. A woman was laying in the grass, missing the lower half of her body. And she was still trying to move." Ozpin looked concerned.

"She was still alive?"

"No. She had been decaying for a few weeks. She wasn't alive. She was a walker."

"A Walker?" Ozpin seemed confused at the term.

"Walker, lurker, they're all the same. They're all dead. I freaked out at the sight of her. I rode that bike as fast as I could back to my house. When I finally got back to my neighborhood, I got hit with a shovel."

"That must have hurt."

"It did. A boy named Duane, and his father Morgan were trying to stay alive in one of the houses. They thought I was one of them. When they realized I wasn't, they took me in and patched me up. The next day we went to the police station to stock up on guns. Morgan had told me that if my family was alive, then chances were they'd be in Atlanta." He didn't miss Ozpin's confused look at the mention of the city. "I headed off, but Morgan stayed behind to get use to teach his son how to shoot.

"After a few days of travel I made it to Atlanta, but the city was overrun with the dead. I would have died in those streets if it hadn't been for a man named Glenn." A sad melancholy smile tried to form on his face but he forced it away. "He saved my life. Got me out of there and back to my family."

"He sounds like a very brave man," Ozpin stated. "What was his occupation?"

"Delivering pizzas."

Rick continued on with his story. "My family was part of a group just outside the city. There was Dale, Andrea, Amy, Jim, Carol and her daughter Sophia, Allen and his wife Donna, and their two twins Ben and Billy. Lastly there was my partner Shane. That was how it started.

"One night walkers attacked our camp. Jim and Amy got bit."

"Bit?" Ozpin asked. "What happens if someone is bitten?"

"You get a fever, a fever so hot it kills you. Then, you come back as one of them. As a walker. Andrea shot Amy before that could happen. Jim wanted to be left in peace and die on his own."

"You had to move, didn't you?"

"That's what I said, but Shane was adamant we stay where we were. He kept saying the army would come in any day and we would be saved. We got into a fight over it. I followed after him, but he pulled a gun on me. He started going off saying it was all my fault, and I knew he wasn't talking about the attack. He and Lori… when they thought I was dead-they…"

"I see," Ozpin said. "It was jealousy." Rick was grateful he left it at that.

"Shane was going to kill me, but Carl had been following us. He got Shane before Shane could get me."

"Oh my. How… old was he? Back then?"

"Just around nine." Carl was forced to grow up in that world. It molded him into who he was today.

"After that we moved on. We packed up into Dale's RV and just drove. One night Lori told me she was pregnant. I knew it wasn't mine, but I kept quiet about it. Then one day Donna was bitten as well. We picked up three new additions to our group. Tyreese and his daughter and her boyfriend. Tyreese became by best friend. It helped that he used to play NFL." Again another blank look from Ozpin.

"One day Tyreese and I took Carl out hunting. He got shot by a farm hand named Otis. I was ready to kill Otis for what he had done, but Tyreese told me my son was still alive. Otis led us back to a farm belonging to a man named Hershel. He used to be a vet and helped treat my son.

"Once the whole group was gathered, Hershel introduced us to his family. He had…" Rick had to pause to remember how many children the farmer had, "two sons and four daughters. I probably sound horrible, but I don't recall all of their names, except for Maggie. Her and Glenn hit it off pretty quick.

"Young love?"Ozpin guessed.

"I don't think they saw it as love, but that is what it grew into. They later married."

"At the farm?"

"No. Things got a bit out of hand. Hershel had already lost one son, and he refused to think of them as actually being dead. He was keeping his barn filled with them. His son included. We had to kill all the infected I the barn, but Hershel lost another son and a daughter in the struggle.

"We moved on again until we came across a prison. It was built to keep things in and out. It was perfect at the time. When we cleared it out we found four cell mates holed up in the cafeteria. They seemed like decent enough guys at first, but one of them decapitated the last of Hershel's daughters. I beat that man within an inch of his life, but Maggie was the one to end it."

Rick lost track of time as he recounted their story of the prison, From the arrival of Michonne, to Allen being bitten and dying, to Carol's suicide attempt after feeling alone (Comic Carol is waaaayyyyy different from show Carol), and their discovery of Woodbury.

"We had been chasing a downed helicopter and it led to a town called Woodbury." May that down be burnt down for all he cared. "It had self made walls and seemed friendly enough to Michonne, Glenn, and I. We were the three who went looking for the chopper.

"A man calling himself the Governor greeted us, and agreed to take us to the pilot. Instead he took us to watch a fight between two men surrounded by walkers. He claimed it was to keep people distracted from the real danger."

"That sounds like it would do the exact opposite," Ozpin remarked.

"Not to him," Rick told the Headmaster. "When we demanded to see the pilot, he took us to a private room and jumped us with two of his men. He demanded to know where we were from so he could take what we had for himself. I lied and said we were on our own. He didn't like that." Rick held up his prosthetic claw. "He cut off my hand."

"What of the others?" Ozpin asked. "Glenn and Michonne?"

"He put them is adjoining rooms in a storage house. He made Glenn listen as he… violated her." Rick's hand clenched into a fist at the man. "May he burn in hell."

"How did he die?"

Here came the hard part. "We managed to escape Woodbury, headed back to the prison. Otis had died in the time we were gone, and Lori was close to giving birth. Carol eventually killed herself (Waaaayyy different than show Carol), and then the Governor attacked. He organized his people into a small militia and attacked in force.

"He was incapable if fighting himself due to injuries Michonne had given him during her escape (he lost and eye, an arm, and his manhood). We put up a good fight, but Tyreese was taken prisoner, when we didn't meet the Governor's demands he cut off Tyreese's head." Ozpin actually looked a shade of green to match his scarf.

"Then the last surviving inmate was shot and killed, Hershel's last son was killed, the Governor shot Hershel himself. We all made an escape, but Lori and our newborn were both gunned down."Rick hung his head. The pain would always be there.

Rick continued telling Ozpin about his story of survival. Everything up to their first encounter with the Whisperers, the survivors who skinned corpses to wear as a second skin to avoid detection from the dead. "Their leader was a woman named Alpha," Rick told him. "She had this philosophy that humans were basically animals and should not behave like civilized people. Instead it was survival of the fittest, and the strong should prey on the weak, even if one of the victims was her own daughter."

"Hmm. Interesting." Ozpin stated.

"What is?" Rick asked.

"I have an informant, a dusty old crow actually, that has ties to a tribe of bandits. From what I hear the leader seems to share a bit of this 'Alpha's' philosophy. How was she dealt with?"

"It was Negan actually," Rick had to admit. He might despise the man, but he had actually helped out in his own sick twisted way. "He was released from his cell and went after Alpha. He did to her what she did to our people." Ironic justice for Ezekiel and Rosita. "Then her second in command, Beta, took charge and attacked Hilltop and Alexandria. Dwight and the militia were able to eliminate much of the threat. They failed to take out the mega herd they had stored for us. And that was around the time Negan and I were trapped before waking up here."

Ozpin was silent for a minute, before filling up his coffee. "Well even an abridged version seems to have taken quite a bit of time."

"Yeah," Rick absentmindedly agreed.

"But from everything you've just told me, it matches up with what the other two had said before. Either you're all incredibly insane, or have come from a truly horrifying place." He sipped. "Sadly I am forced to believe the latter. Mr. Grimes, I'm sure you've noticed by now, but you are-,"

"-No longer on earth," Rick finished for him.

Ozpin seemed a mix between pleased and concern that he had come to that conclusion. "You seem rather calm with that thought. I would have expected you to be denying it at the top of your lungs and to call me crazy. How did you know?"

"When I told my story, you had no idea, half the stuff I was talking about. Even if you've been living a secluded life, you would know about the outbreak, about the major cities, and everything else. Negan and Jesus figured it out as well." The image of Negan just staring out that window came to his mind.

"I believe they have as well," Ozpin agreed. "This is Remnant Mr. Grimes."

"Remnant," Rick repeated. As he said it, it felt like a sense of acceptance washed over him. Like a thought that had been burning in the back of his mind was finally being realized. No more walkers.

"So, the walkers, they-they don't exist here?" Rick's tone was on the verge of joy and disbelief. After all this time of wondering if there was a way to escape the virus, they had found it. So many people had died along the way, but now…

"No, Mr. Grimes," Ozpin confirmed his suspicion. "There are not. But there are the Grimm. And I believe I owe you some answers now as well."

* * *

A/N: That's the second chapter, like I said above I only wanted to leave a partial abridged description of the comics if you only watch the show. As you probably noticed some characters are drastically different, and others don't even exist. But I also wanted to leave a question for all of you. If some of the character from the walking dead were offered positions in this new world, what do you think they would be?

Would Rick become a cop once more after he has his injuries healed, or more of campus security?

Would Jesus become somewhat of a hand to hand combat instructor?

Would Michonne offer anyone skills with how to use a sword? Or Andrea on how to snipe?

And of course, Negan. Would he even be offered a job or position? Would his actions from the old world condemn him once again, or would Ozpin and others see the use of having someone like him around? He was a coach and has experience working with kids so...Because writing for Negan is honestly so much fun. Thank you for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: The Walking Dead is owned by Robert Kirkman and Image Comics, and RWBY is owned and property of Rooster Teeth. I own nothing.**

 **A/N: If anyone was curious about the Walker virus, everyone from the walking dead universe still has it, but no one on Remnant does. But if someone from Walking Dead verse were to die and become a walker and bit someone form Remnant that would be how it would spread. I will mention it further in a later chapter.**

* * *

"So how exactly do you combat these-Grimm?" Rick asked. He and Ozpin had left the latter's office and were making their way back to the Medical Ward. During their talk Ozpin had received a call that the other survivors had awoken, so they decided to head back. But before that had happened, Ozpin had stayed true to his word and answered whatever questions Rick had to throw at him.

He began with just what exactly Beacon was, and where for that matter. Ozpin told him of Beacon being one of four combat schools in this, Remnant, and it was located in the Kingdom of Vale.

There were four kingdoms altogether: Vale, Atlas, Mistral, and Vacuo. Each had a combat school, a council, Huntsman and Huntresses ready to combat the threat of the Grimm, creatures of darkness that preyed on humanity.

Hearing Ozpin's description of the shadowy monsters his mind instantly drifted to walkers. Both had forced humanity to seek shelter behind strong walls and train future generations how to fight and survive in a cruel world. In a bizarre way it was almost like their own communities. Alexandria, Hilltop, Kingdom, and Sanctuary.

The biggest difference being that there was a peace between the four kingdoms. There were still tribes of bandits, and an organization called the White Fang, but otherwise they were living in peace, something that he and most of the others craved. He was unsure about Negan though, the man might have claimed he did the acts he did so his people could survive, but there was a sadism within him without a doubt.

"Are you referring to the weapons our Huntsman use?" Ozpin asked before giving an answer to Rick's question. "With weapons that are built to be hyper-lethal."

"How so?"

Ozpin seemed to find it amusing on how best to put it into words. "Well, just about every weapon can turn into a gun." Rick slowed his pace and adopted a bemused expression.

"You're not joking are you?" He asked the Headmaster.

"I am not." Ozpin answered. "Our youngest student here is actually quite fanatic about the various weapons that others possess."

Rick had to let his brain process that information for a moment. Everything being a gun. Dear Lord, that concept would have proven useful in almost any given situation in the apocalypse. "That's… a bit impractical. But I can see how convenient that would be in their line of work."

"Indeed." Ozpin waited as Rick hobbled to catch back up to him. "We might be able to do something about that you know. Your leg, I mean."

"What do you mean about my leg?" Rick questioned.

"I simply mean that we have an advance brace on sorts here at Beacon. It could make it to the point where you would no longer need that cane any longer." Ozpin gave Rick time to entertain that thought. "If you were agreeable to it of course."

"I…would be able to walk right again? I could run and move around?" It almost seemed too good to be true.

"Well, you would still have to exercise it on your own," Ozpin advised. "Perform small steps at first, and keep it elevated when you sleep. And I could even see about ordering a fully functioning prosthetic hand from Atlas."

Despite how great the offer sounded, Rick couldn't help but feel there was more to the offer than what was being said. "Really? What's the catch?"

"Does there have to be a catch?" Ozpin asked, not offended.

"There doesn't. But for someone like myself I've learned not to just take an offer at face value." Rick honestly told him. "But if there is, I'd like to know before I do anything I might regret."

"Hmm," Ozpin mulled over his answer. "Would you consider me asking of your assistance after you received them to be a catch?" There it was.

"What do you mean by assistance?" Rick asked. "Assistance with what?"

"If you recall, I said we were experiencing a time of peace," Ozpin began, recounting one of the questions Rick had asked him earlier.

"I do." Rick said. "That just makes me the more curious as to what exactly we would be helping with."

"The peace is fragile," Ozpin said bluntly. "You might recall me mentioning something of a terrorist organization known as the White Fang?" Rick nodded. "Here there are people born with animal qualities and traits. They are known as faunus." Rick frowned and arched a brow. "It sounds unbelievable I know, but Beacon does have faunus students. Chances are you might see one of them walking around."

"So…people with dog tails? Or octopus arms?" Rick asked skeptically.

"A broad spectrum, although octopus arms are a bit over the top. You see, some humans of Remnant treat faunus poorly. Exploiting their labor, and discriminating against them rather openly. To combat this many faunus got together and formed a peaceful movement. However over time that movement went down a dark path."

"I see." Rick said. "And you expect us to do what exactly?"

Ozpin jumped right to the point. "If I could ask in your help in protecting the peace of this world, not just against terrorists, but our monsters as well. And not just you, the one's with you as well. I believe your story of that nightmarish world and would offer you and your own the chance to not just survive, but to live."

Neither man moved as Rick thought over Ozpin's offer. They did have experience fighting that was for sure, be it against dead or alive. It would make sense why he would ask for their help. This world, this…Remnant was a new chance for all of them. They could live in peace at last, and this man was asking them to fight.

"Why us?" Rick asked. "From what I've gathered you specifically train kids here so that they can be the ones to do that."

Ozpin gave a small, almost sad sigh. "Because they still are just children. It is sad to admit, but your people have the knowledge of what exactly it takes to survive. I do not ask for all of you to go out and actively risk your lives upon a request. There are other ways in which my students and your people can come together."

"Meaning…?"

"Tutoring perhaps," Ozpin suggested. "It might benefit any student struggling in a certain field, or even help build confidence in team leaders."

"…"

Rick was silent for a moment. "This…this isn't just my decision. This is about all of us. Everybody I'm with has to choose what it is they want." He saw something resembling admiration in Ozpin's eyes.

"I believe that is for the best as well. Shall we go inform them of the situation then?"

Rick nodded. "We should. But that doesn't mean they're going to believe it."

As the two men walked back into the infirmary they saw that all the occupants were out of their beds and clustered together. They all seemed to be talking animatedly with one another. Negan however stood away from them. He was no longer looking out the window, but stood with his back slouched against the wall.

"Dad!" Carl yelled as he saw his father reenter the infirmary.

"Rick!" Andrea yelled as well as the both of them came running over to him. They nearly knocked him over from the force of which they hugged him.

"Where were you?!" He wasn't sure which of them asked that question first.

"It's fine, it's alright," he tried to reassure the both of them. "I'm alright. What about the two of you?"

"No we're not fine!" Andrea exclaimed. "You scared the shit out of us! Jesus said you went to go talk with some guy and-." Andrea looked over Rick's shoulder and saw Ozpin standing there, casually leaning into his cane. "Rick?"

"Dad, who is he?" Carl asked. His one remaining eye narrowed at the sight of the stranger. The rest of the group, save for Jesus and Negan, tensed as well. Michonne reached for a sword she did not have.

Sensing the hostility Rick tried to put their minds to ease. "This is Professor Ozpin."

"Ozpin?" Laura repeated next to Dwight. The two ex-Saviors looked much more ruffed up than anyone else. He would have to ask them about that later.

"Hello," Ozpin casually greeted them. "I'm sure that you all have quite the number of questions to ask?" No one answer him right away.

"Maybe you should just tell them all you told me?" Rick suggested to the headmaster.

"If you feel that is the best approach. Very well, to put it quite simply, you are at Beacon Academy."

Ozpin took his time explaining exactly what Beacon was. He explained about the humans and faunus, how Dust worked and how Huntsman used it, what the White Fang was, and of course about the Grimm; the monsters that plagued Remnant. All throughout his tale he was met with looks of skepticism and disbelief. It wasn't easy to accept the fact that you were in a new world completely.

Still not believing it fully it fell upon Dwight to say: "Prove it." Rick noticed his voice was a bit hoarse, and that he had minor laceration marks around his neck.

Ozpin then closed his eyes and a dark green energy of sorts crackled to life around his body like a protective case or something. That had startled nearly everyone. "W-what the fuck was that?!" Yumiko had asked. Her and Magna had nearly jumped out of their skins.

Then came the explanation on aura and how that was a thing. Actually having your soul as a means of protection. Strangely enough it was Eugene who was the first to say he believed.

"Really?" Rick asked the scientist. "From someone who doesn't believe in a god, you're the first to admit you think this is possible?"

"Rick, the idea of alternate worlds, or alternate dimensions entirely has been something that has been an ongoing debate amongst the scientific community," Eugene said matter-of-factly. "As it so stands I was once in the possession of a book that explained the quantum mechanics of inter-dimensional travel by an individual named Lutece (anyone get that reference?)"

"You're saying its possible then?" Michonne asked. She tried being stoic, but Rick could see she was trying to process it all, same as the rest of them.

"Given what we have just seen and the fact that Rick and Jesus both have both spoken with this individual, I would say that it is more than just possible." Eugene concluded.

"I understand that it must be difficult to process this, but I assure you that the world you were surviving in does not exist here." Michonne let out a small sigh of relief same as Dwight. Maggie brought up her son, Hershel, to kiss his head. After everything they had earned the right to enjoy themselves. "Until anything is fully decided upon, we can offer you some spare rooms here at Beacon. I would like to meet with you all individually of course, but I would like a word with him if I may." He pointed at Negan.

"What the fuck for?" Negan asked.

"If we're lucky, he'll put you down like a rabid animal." It was Maggie who said it with as much venom as she could muster. Negan looked at her and Hershel in her arms. Something close to recognition passed over his face.

"Well don't I feel all welcomed already," he sarcastically said to no one in particular.

"How you are perceived is entirely dependent on you," Ozpin calmly told him. "Are you up for discussing some more things with me?"

Negan rolled his eyes sardonically. "Sure. Fucking fine." He brushed his way past everyone else, receiving piercing glares from Maggie and Dwight both. "I shall see you all on the flip side." He gave Rick a mock bow. "Mr. President." A bow to Andrea. "First Lady." He paused at Carl. "Carl." With that he followed Ozpin out and closed the door.

"Asshole," Dwight cursed his retreating form.

* * *

Fuck this place is huge. Negan followed the Wizard of Oz wanna be to what he only assumed to be where the man's office was. If only a place like this had existed for him and his Saviors, they really would have been sitting pretty and the end of the world in a place like this.

He had talked with Ozpin when he had first awoken, but had kept it short and sweet: He came from a world with dead pricks trying to eat his prick. He got off on killing them. Rick and his friends hate his guts and balls of fucking steel, enough said stop with the fucking questions.

Whatever Rick said to Ozpin must have warranted another little talk. Lucky him.

They came to a stop at a just outside of the elevator to Ozpin's office. _Beep! Beep!_ Ozpin reached inside his pocket and pulled out a cell phone looking device. "One moment," Ozpin told him as he answered. "I see." He said to whoever was on the other end. "Please tell James I am on my way up right now." He hung up. "It would seem I have another matter attend to before we converse. Would you mind waiting out here for a few moments?"

Him? Alone? Unsupervised? Fuck yeah! "Sure," Negan answered. "Fuck no I don't mind."

Ozpin looked at him critically. "You do know there are cameras in this hallway?"

"Of course I fucking do." Negan said. "I'll wait riiiiiiiight here for you. Cross my heart."

"Mm-hmm," Ozpin muttered. "Very well. This shall only take a few minutes."

"Few minutes an hour, I don't fucking care. Take some time to jerk off in there for all I give a shit." Ozpin chose not to dignify that as he ascended in the elevator by himself.

"Fuck." Negan said to himself as he sat down on one of the chairs in the waiting area. Rick had probably fucked him over in his little chat with Oz, and now he was going to get a lecture. High school all over again.

"So I got tickets to see that new Spruce Willis movie," a boy's voice said from somewhere down the hall. Craning his neck to see who was walking past he saw it was a blonde haired boy wearing an armor breast plate and shoulder pads. Walking besides him was a _very_ attractive red head girl in bronze armor.

Fuck, if he were a teenager he would woo that girl until her face was as fiery as her hair and her loins ached to be fucked. But too bad he was a grown ass man and she was most likely underage. That sucked!

"You mean that Harder to Die Four?" Hot Redhead asked Scraggily Blonde Boy. "I hear it that is quite good, but nowhere near the original."

"Well, yeah! Nothing can beat the first one." Scraggily Blonde agreed. "Not even Doomaggeddon is as good."

Hot Redhead smiled warmly at scraggily Blonde. "Have you thought about asking anyone to go with you?"

"I sure have!" Scraggily Blonde declared.

 _Heh,_ Negan mentally chuckled. _Alright Scraggily!_ It was obvious Hot Redhead liked the boy. "You think Weiss would want to go?" Hot Redhead's smile started to fade.

"Well…she might." The girl tried to hide her disappointment. Scraggily didn't seem to pick up on it.

"You think so? Alright, I'll ask her about it in Port's class. Thanks Pyrrha!"

"Of course," said a downcast Pyrrha. "Happy to help." Blonde Boy continued walking, but Pyrrha remained behind with a promise to catch up later.

Negan couldn't believe it. This Hot Redhead-Pyrrha, was giving this boy the go ahead to ask her out, and he just blue-balled her. Huh. Could girls even get blue-balled? Blue-ovaried?

But that was to be expected. If teenage boys weren't complete horndogs, they were completely oblivious. "Well that was fucked." He spoke.

She jumped a little when she heard his voice behind her. "Oh! I'm sorry. You surprised me just now."

"Eh, Don't be sorry," he brushed aside her concern. "Surprising people are one of the things I'm best at. Apart from kicking the shit out of anyone who pisses me off, and fucking of course." He smiled at her rather flushed expression. Always worth the reaction.

"Sorry." He apologized. "I've been told that I've got a broken filter somewhere in my head all sorts of fucked shit just comes out. Why don't I start again?" He cleared his throat. "Hi. I'm Negan."

She put on a small smile and gave a polite bow. "Pyrrha Nikos."

"Pyrrha," he repeated. "What a lovely name."

"Thank you. Your name is quite unique itself."

"Nothing else like it." He smiled again to show off his white teeth. Despite living in a shitty world, Negan still kept up on hygiene. What woman would want to fuck a man whose breath smelled like sour ass?

She nodded. "Are you waiting to speak with Professor Ozpin?"

"Waiting being the key word there," Negan leaned back into the chair and stretched his legs out. "So I got time to kill. Want to talk about what happened back there?"

Her green eyes widened and she began to become flustered once more. "Oh! You…you heard about…I mean, um, it's no big deal really. Jaune and I are-are friends is all." Negan didn't miss the way she said friends. _Yep. The girl wants the meatlog bad._

He raised his hands in a calming gesture. "I get it, it get it. The two of you are best fucking friends, no need to change anything. So I won't say shit about it."

She looked at him quizzically. "Why? What would you say?" She took the bait.

"Only to offer you some grade-A advice on boys is all. But since you're fine to be friends, I'll leave you too it."

"Um…" she trailed.

"Well?" He asked. "If you got something to say, spit it the fuck out sister."

"What kind of advice?" She finally asked. Negan smirked at her question.

"Well I am as happy as a feckless fuck on free fuck day that you feel comfortable asking me that," Negan said. "The people I'm here with would just give me the stink eye and tell me to go fuck off." He saw that she actually looked concerned. She must be one of those polite by nature people. "But since I can tell that you are not like those pricks I'll help you out." He grabbed the chair next to him and slid it over to her. "Sit your fine ass down and let's see what we can do."

"Are you a psychiatrist?" She asked.

"Fuck no. but that doesn't mean I don't know romance. I know romance so well that I fuck it. So Pyrrha, believe me when I say that you most abso-fucking-lutely have a chance."

That seemed to brighten her up a bit. "Y-you think?"

He laughed. "I fucking _know_. A polite and beautiful girl like you, how could uh," Negan drew a blank on the boy's name.

"Jaune," Pyrrha supplied.

"Right. Jaune. How could Jaune not fall head over fucking heels for you? I'll tell you why." She leaned closer. "Because he isn't thinking. Guys have a brain and a cock, and only enough blood to use one at a time, and right now he isn't really using either, so it's up to you to fucking do something about that."

She was still a bit flushed, but actually seemed to be thinking his words over. "You want me to make the first move? I don't that would be wise."

Negan scoffed. "This isn't some pride shit is it?" He asked. "Because I know a prick who is packed with pride he can't admit when he's wrong. Don't. Be. That. Prick." She still seemed unsure. "Hey, trust me this is coming from the man so skillful in the art of love that they had to add extra pages to the motherfucking Kama Sutra in his honor. You can do it."

"Well…"

"Yessss?" He urged her on.

"There is supposed to be a dance later this semester. If neither of us has a date by then, I suppose I…could ask him."

He smiled and clapped his hands together. "There! See? When you say it out loud it all becomes so crystal fucking clear. And believe me Pyrrha, it might take time, but everything will snap into place like Lego bricks. Or his dick in your pussy. Whichever."

Her face was as red as her hair. "I…well…" she fumbled for her words. "T-thank you, Negan." She said. "That might not have been the most…conventional of advice, but you have given me much to think about."

"I have a lot to make up for and you know what they say: advice from strangers is like not wearing a condom, you'll either catch something or you won't. Only one way to find out." She stood up and gave another polite bow.

"I should probably be on my way before class starts. Thank you again." Negan watched as she walked away. Fuck, if only he was a teenager.

"Jaune you lucky bastard."

 _Ding!_ The elevator door opened and a tall man in a uniform stepped out. He walked past Negan, with a sideways glance and continued on his way. Guess that means he can head up now.

* * *

When he got to the top he saw two people in the clock themed office. The first obviously being Ozpin, and the second a shorter blonde woman with glasses and a riding crop. Damn. First an attractive girl, and now an attractive _woman?!_ Fuck, he should have been born here!

Ozpin gestured for him to sit. "I'm glad you could make it. Thank you for waiting."

"Look, we can cut the shit alright," Negan said. "Just tell me exactly why the fuck I'm here when I already met with you before." The woman arrowed her eyes at him.

"Don't speak to the Headmaster in such a manner!" She snapped at him like he was a child. This could be fun.

"Well shit. Pardon me madam, and excuse the shit out of my goddamn French, but you are _hot_ when you are angry! That's not to say that you're not hot the rest of the time, say when you just got done with a good loooong fuck-" She had her riding crop pointed directly at his face. His eyes widened before he readopted his cocky smirk. "So, you're into spanking equipment? That's cool. I dig that shit too."

"Ahem." Ozpin loudly cleared his throat before anything happened. "Now it don't believe it necessary for such actions."

"But, Headmaster-!"

"Glynda," he cut her off. "Nor do I believe it appropriate for such language." Negan frowned.

"Hey! Not my fucking fault. I have a-,"

"Broken filter?" Ozpin guessed.

"How the fuck did you-?"

"I told you there were cameras in the hall. I forgot to mention that there is an audio feed."

"So you heard me help the girl out?" He flashed another cocky grin. "No need to thank me."

"We weren't," Glynda glared at him.

"The reason why I wished to speak with you before the anyone else was because Rick had told me some rather unsettling information about you."

"Figures," Negan rolled his eyes. "What exactly did Rick say?"

"That you seemed to have an edge for violence," Glynda said, still glowering at him for his previous remarks. "And a profanity streak."

"Not gonna lie woman, you scare the fucking shit out of me." She glared harder. "But Rick has a point on both of those accounts. I most certainly motherfucking get hard at the thought of putting things down that deserve to be down."

"And you are aware that this is a combat school?" Ozpin rhetorically asked.

"Sooo, what? You want me to teach here. Because let me tell you something, I'll fucking do it! I'll teach the fuck out of this place, bring it on motherfucker!"

"That is not what I was going to say," Ozpin said seemingly unperturbed by his outburst.

"Oh. Well I'll have you know I'm more than fucking qualified. I used to be a high school coach you know. I got experience dripping out of my ass, I know how to work with kids."

"And does that include giving students advice about snapping together like 'Lego bricks' or sexual innuendoes?" Glynda asked coldly.

Negan shrugged. "What? It fucking worked didn't it? Whatever helps to get the point across."

"Including using terror to subjugate others?" Ozpin asked of him. Negan scowled. "You know what I'm referring to?"

"What the fuck do you think?" Negan stood up. "Look, if you called me up here just to lock me up like Rick did, you show know about all the-,"

"That is not why you are here," Ozpin calmly cut him off. "As horrific as the acts were that you performed, I trust there was a method to the madness. To your rules." Negan said nothing but still kept his attention fixated on Ozpin. "You believed you were protecting those who you valued as being protected? Am I wrong?"

"…You're not wrong, but you're not fucking right either. You hit that G spot that's right in the middle."

"Would you mind sharing?"

"I would mind as a matter of fucking fact, and would like to get this little meeting over with. So, what. The. Fuck. Do. You. Want? If you don't want me as a teacher or tutor, what?"

"I believe I've told you what a huntsman was did I not?" Ozpin asked.

Negan actually let out a laugh. "And you want me for that? Rick would allow you to give me a weapon and kick the shit out of those monster fuckers? That's fucking rich!"

"This is my decision, not Rick's," Ozpin told him. "I believe in second chances. Why else would you have saved Rick? Perhaps this pat can help you down that road."

"And what if I say no? I'm not saying no by the way, I'm just curious as a fucking cat."

"Well since you are much too vulgar to have around children, you'd have to seek a job somewhere in Vale," Glynda told him. "And I doubt anyone would hire you."

"Sheesh," Negan said to Glynda. "Not very good on first impressions are you? But then again…neither am I! Alright Oz, you got yourself a Huntsman!"

Ozpin nodded. "Just know that you would most likely be working alone. I doubt anyone from your group would want to work alongside you."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Negan made stopping gestures with his hands. "Not only do I get a job that pays money to kill monsters, and a free place to stay, most likely a new weapon, but now I don't have to put up with the people who hate my fucking guts? This day just went from shitty to full harem mode!"

"I'm glad to see that you're enthused." Ozpin observed. "But just know that given your unique history, that does not mean you are free to do whatever you please. Glynda, if you would."

"Certainly. When on missions you will be on a set timeframe. You will be required to contact the school via scroll on an hour based interval, and must hand over your weapon when not on a mission." Glynda listed. "Failure to do so will result in your arrest and capture. Do you understand?"

"Wow, what crawled up your fine tight ass that's got you all strict?"

"Do you _understand_?" Glynda asked more forcefully.

"Yeah sure, fucking fine, I get it." Negan agreed. Glynda backed down. Negan smiled. "You really do have a fine ass though. Just saying." The following slap was heard all across the school.

* * *

A/N: Next chapter will have all those who will be huntsman/huntress crafting/modifying weapons as well as the chance to test them on some Grimm. More Remnant characters will make an appearance as well. Thank you for reading.

Also who are your top 10 favorite characters of the comic and show?

For the comic I'd have to go with (in no order): Rick, Negan (by far), Carl, Dwight, Michonne, Maggie, Andrea, Tyresse, Glenn, Jesus.

For the show I'd say (in no order): Rick, Negan, Daryl, Merle, Hershel, Glenn, Maggie, Carol, Carl, Michonne.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: The Walking Dead is owned by Robert Kirkman and Image Comics. And RWBY is owned and property of Rooster Teeth. I own nothing.**

* * *

"He's really grown up, hasn't he?" Andrea asked Rick as she pried out of the room provided to them to look across the hall where Carl's room was. Rick placed a hand on her shoulder and closed the door.

"Much faster than he should have," he said in a somber, yet proud tone. Carl could take care of himself just fine without a doubt. And that had always given him pride as well as concern. Perhaps life here could help change that. His son could have the life he should have had instead of constantly worrying for his survival.

Andrea gave a knowing smirk. "You know Lydia went with him into his room?" Rick nodded. "He's only fourteen and she's an attractive girl. If anything happens you might really be 'Grandpa Grimes.'" It was clear the both of them knew exactly what kind of relationship Carl had with the daughter of the Whispers leader.

"Carl's smarter than that," Rick stated. "Or at least he better be. I trust him not to do anything stupid."

"So, you're okay with Lydia then?" She asked.

"She's not like her mother if that's what you mean." Rick told her. "It was clear that she didn't want to be grouped with those animals." The memory of Rosita and Ezekiel's severed heads on pikes jumped to his mind at the mention of Lydia's mother, Alpha. Rick looked Andrea in the eye. "Why? Are _you_ not okay with them?"

Andrea briefly averted her eyes. "She's his first real girlfriend. I know him and Sophia used to tease each other about being boyfriend and girlfriend when they were kids, but I still think she might still have bit of a crush on him."

"Point taken," Rick said. "You'd rather have Sophia as a daughter-in-law." He teased earning a slap on the arm.

"It's not that," Andrea said trying to sound serious, but still smiling. "I know that's he's a young man and the hormones are raging, and I just don't want him taking things too fast. Or, well faster than they are already. Who knows? He might meet someone here."

"You sound a little too hopeful." Rick observed. Andrea looked at him seriously.

"Why shouldn't I be? We're finally in a place where there's peace, where there's order. We have a chance to live here with a blank slate." Andrea listed, her eyes sparkling with mirth. "It's like the future you would always describe in one of your speeches about coming together to rebuild. We have a right to enjoy this."

Everything Andrea was saying was true. They did earn this. Surviving for so long has to have its perks. But something about her words created a nagging in the back of his mind. He sat down on the bed. "Rick?" Andrea asked, concerned.

"We deserve it." Rick admitted as much. "But what about everyone else? Siddiq? Annie? Dante? Mikey? Heath? What about everyone who isn't here? They have just as much a right as we do."

Andrea sat down next to him. "Are you saying you'd want to go _back?_ "

"No." Was his instant reply. "Those people, they're strong. I know that they can survive what that life throws at them. But that doesn't mean that it's fair to them."

"It hardly ever is," Andrea said wrapping an arm around him. "But it's like you said: they're strong. They can handle themselves. Try to savor what we have now, instead of what's behind us." She glanced at his right leg.

Underneath his pant leg was a mechanical brace. It was like Ozpin had said, it really made a difference in the way he walked. He could put more weight on it now without a flash of pain jolting through his body. In a few days time he probably wouldn't even need his cane anymore. Hell, in a few weeks he could be walking as good as new with this. He supposes taking the job of Campus Security had its perks.

That was the title he had at least. Andrea, Maggie, and Jesus had been granted tutor titles for the students. Any problems in shooting (Andrea), leadership skill (Maggie), or hand to hand combat (Jesus) they would try to coach them through it. As for Dwight, Michonne, Laura, Magna, and Yumiko they had been offered the positions of volunteer Hunters. Eugene, not being very combat orientated had opted to help research and study up on weapon maintenance. He was probably in his room right now reading up on all he could about this property called "Dust."

As far as Carl, Lydia, and Sophia went they had yet to decide what they wanted to do. Lydia would most likely do whatever it was Carl wanted, or vice versa. Maybe they could get part time jobs like most kids their age? But something told them that was a pipe dream. The kids here seemed to be into monster hunting as opposed to cashing people out in line.

He would get a firsthand look at some of the weapons tomorrow since Ozpin had scheduled a meeting between him and those who were talking the Hunter route with a student who was very gifted when it came to weapons.

Letting out a sigh, Rick eased himself onto his back to lie down fully. He grabbed a pillow from behind his head and with care slid it under his injured leg. He had to keep it elevated after all. Andrea lay down beside him. They were in for a brand new day in the morning.

"Rick?" Andrea asked to his left.

"Yeah? What is it?" He turned his head to face her. She cupped his face and pulled him in for a kiss. He should have probably trimmed his beard a little. She had told him once that it was like kissing a mammoth, but she didn't seem to mind right at the moment.

She pulled away and touched her forehead to his. "We don't die. Remember?"

He smiled and cupped her chin. "How could I forget? Even if I got shot in the head you'd find a way to bring me back."

"Damn straight." She kissed him again. Rick closed his eyes and eased into it. It intensified and Rick found his tongue exploring her mouth as she did the same to his. It was a moment of bliss between the two of them.

Rick's feeling of pleasure was interrupted when he felt a warm coppery taste fill his mouth and numb the taste buds on his tongue. _"Mmggffff?"_ Rick moaned as he tried to pull away from Andrea, but the grip she had on his shoulders was like that of steel. A moan escaped from Andrea's mouth, but it was not one of pleasure.

Opening his eyes in a flash he pushed Andrea away from him with all of his might as blood gushed from his mouth and his now missing tongue.

Andrea opened her mouth as his severed tongue fell onto the bed staining the sheets a deep red. Her eyes opened and instead of the warm shade of blue, Rick was faced with glassy milk white orbs filled with emptiness. " _Gruuugh!"_ Andrea moaned as her reanimated corpse threw itself at Rick and began tearing into his throat. The once white sheets now tainted red.

"Agh!" Rick yelled as he sat bolt upright in his bed. Sweat covered his brow and his breathing was rapid. He quickly looked to his left to see a very much alive Andrea sound asleep next to him. He put a hand over his chest to calm himself down after that.

It had been a nightmare.

At last he was able to get his breathing back under control and laid down onto the now sweat stained side of the bed. "We don't die." Rick repeated to the sleeping form of Andrea. "We don't die." He continued to chant their phrase until he was able to close his eyes and dream a better dream.

* * *

"Seriously?! It has to be today?" Ruby nodded at her sister's questions.

"Look," the red hooded girl tried to reassure Yang, "Professor Ozpin asked if I could help with the designs for some visiting Huntsman, and how could I say no?"

"I know you live for this kind of stuff Ruby, but can't you reschedule?" Yang asked. "Today was the day we were going to go investigate Vale. You know, all super spies and stuff?"

Ruby nodded in apology. "Yeah, I know, but you know how I am with weapons. I'll try to get done with the designs as fast as I can. Promise!"

Yang put her hands on her hips. "Promise?" She held out her pinkie finger. Ruby, without hesitation put out her pinkie as well and hooked it with Yang's. "Promise." It could have ended there, but both sisters used their free hand to grab the ankle of the other, while standing on one leg and shake it like a hand.

"Promise." They both said.

"Okay," Yang let go of Ruby. "I'll tell Weiss and Blake, but I don't think Ice Queen will be too happy about having to wait."Ruby heaved a sigh of relief at her elder sister's promise.

"Thanks Yang!" She called as she ran to the school's forge. "You're the best!"

A moderate walk to the forge was cut short for Ruby, largely in part to her semblance. Stopping just outside of the forge she pulled out her scroll and checked the time. She was early, but only by a minute or so. Well whoever it was she was meeting must be inside by now. Right? She pulled open the door to the forge and stepped inside.

There were a total of six people altogether two guys and the rest girls. They talked a little amongst themselves, some more than others. "Uh…hi!" She greeted somewhat nervously. Ruby might not have been as shy as she had been when she first started at Beacon, but meeting new people still wasn't an easy thing. Especially if these guys were experienced.

They stopped talking amongst themselves to look at her instead. Yeah. No pressure at all. "Hi. Again." She added a bit nervously. "My names Ruby," she gave a wave, "and I guess I'm here to help you guys design some weapons. Which is a complete honor by the way, I love this kind of stuff." A man with short brown hair and a full beard made his way over to her. He had a claw right hand and walked with a bit of limp to his step.

"You're the student Ozpin was telling us about?" He asked.

"Uh…yeah, that's me." She bashfully said. He took a minute to seemingly get a read on her, much to her discomfort, but he eventually smiled and extended his left hand.

"Rick Grimes," he introduced himself. "I guess I'm campus security around her now."

Ruby froze for a minute. "Is this about the food fight?" He looked confused.

"Food fight?" He parroted.

"Nothing!" She quickly avoided possible trouble. "Uh…why don't we get to work on those designs?" Rick nodded his agreement as she led him over to one of the sketching tables. "Sooooo," she trailed at first. "What kind of weapon would you like? What about a hand cannon, or a flail that explodes when it hits the ground, or maybe a battle ax gun combo? I mean weapons are basically extensions of ourselves sooooo, any ideas?"

She must have been speaking rather quickly. Rick looked like he was barely keeping up with her questions. "Could you, uh, run that by me again?" He asked, clearly confused.

"Oh, right," she became a tad bit embarrassed. "Sorry. I'm kinda a geek for these kinds of things and designing weapons with people is always so much fun."

"You're clearly passionate about it that's for sure." He observed. "But what was that you said about an ax?"

"Like an ax and gun combo?" She asked with bright eyes. "Professor Port has something like that. Is that what you want?"

"I'm used to a hatchet," Rick confessed. "Can we do that?"

"You bet we can!" Ruby all but cheered. He seemed easy to work with. She grabbed a blueprint sheet and began to sketch out a design. She drew the hatchet first, and then moved onto to its shifting mechanisms for its gun form. It wouldn't be the biggest weapon, so the gun wouldn't be anything too fancy. "Ta-da!" she passed him her first sketch. "I hope a revolver is okay for the gun. You don't really strike me as over the top." He looked over the sketch.

"No, a revolver would be fine," he agreed, much to her pleasure. "Any idea how long until this is a thing?"

"Well we can send it to the blacksmith and he can get started on it right away, so probably only a day or two!" That put a smile on Rick's face.

"Much obliged," he gave her a nod of respect. "I'll send the next one over for you."

* * *

The next person was a dark skinned woman with dreadlocks and a simple katana residing at her hip. "Hello there!" Ruby warmly greeted the newcomer. "I'm Ruby!" She extended her hand, which the woman took with only mild hesitation.

"Michonne," she simply greeted.

"Whoa! Cool name!" Ruby said. She hadn't ever heard that type a name before. "I love that katana by the way! Does it turn into anything?"

"No. Just a regular sword."

"Oh, that kind of sounds likes a friend of mine actually," Ruby told her. "His names Jaune and he uses his family sword. It doesn't change into anything either, but it's still good."

Michonne patted the hilt of her sword and pulled it out to lay it on the table. "Do you think we can make a copy?"

"Well duh!" Ruby said. Being an expert on weapons, it was a simple enough request. "We can even make the copy infused with Dust! Oh! That would be sooo cool! Two katanas would have you like all, Hi-ya! And Ka-Pow! And other ninja noises!"

"And that would work against these-Grimm?" Michonne asked. It almost sounded like she hadn't heard of Grimm or Dust until recently.

"Dust always works," Ruby said as she outlined the katana. "This kind of sword would work great, but with a Dust one, you'd be like a one woman army, which is totally cool!"

Ruby noticed that the other woman's stoic face almost began to turn into a smile.

After Michonne was given her blueprints the second male came to sit down. "Hi," Ruby began with introductions. "I'm Ruby and-oh!" she stopped herself short when she saw his face. The right half of it was completely normal, and had a bit of rugged charm to it, but the left side…

It was like looking at burnt pizza. The skin around his left eye, and most of the side of his head was a sick pinkish red scar. A bit of fluid was forming in his left eye, and he had bit of a difficulty blinking it away, almost like part of his eyelid was missing as well. It looked like someone or something had held that side of his face in an oven.

He caught her staring at it. "What?" He asked with a bite to his question which snapped her back to reality.

"Oh, uh nothing." She hoped he believed that. "I was just…" _Come on Ruby think of something!_ "Looking at your crossbow!" Yeah that would work. "I haven't seen anyone here with one of those yet and I was just having an Oh my Gosh moments!"

He looked at her skeptically. "Sure." That sounded like sarcasm. Oh no she was getting off to a bad start with this guy!

"Okay! I wasn't staring at your crossbow, even if it is really cool." She admitted, slumping her shoulders. "It was rude of me, I know, but I'm sorry! Really I am!" she placed her hands together in a pleading gesture. "But I still want to help you with your weapon!" He kept a stone face as he stared at her. "Please?" She tried for puppy dog eyes which always worked on dad and Yang.

With a sardonic roll of his eyes he put his crossbow on the table. "Sure." Ruby let out a sigh of relief. "I just wanted to make a few adjustments to this is all."

"Sure thing," she agreed. "What did you have in mind?"

"Some of those Dust tipped bolts," he began. "And an auto reload. Like a clip for a gun for the bolts." Ruby outlined the regular crossbow and then went to adding what he had suggested. "That's it."

"Are you sure, uh, sorry but I don't know your name."

"Dwight."

Ruby thought the name over. "Dwight? That sounds familiar. Did you use to work in an office?"

"What? No. I…*sigh* yes. Yes I used to work in an office. However did you know?"

She shrugged. "You just have the name for it I guess."

After Dwight came a woman with her head shaved at the sides named Laura. She had no idea what weapon would be a good fit, so her and Ruby spitballed for ideas. They eventually settled on a flail and chain type of weapon. The flail itself when held would turn into a handgun.

Yumiko, like Dwight had kept it simple. She just wanted her bow and arrow modified to have Dust tipped arrows. Lastly was Magna, who agreed on a Dust blade machete, which of course turned into a gun. The last two ladies had been the easiest to work with aside from Rick.

"Whew," Ruby said wiping the sweat from her brow. "Now to get back to my team and-,"

"Knock-knock!" A man's voice spoke from the forge's entrance. Looking to see who it was, Ruby was met with the sight of another new face. He was a tall and well built man with short black hair combed backwards. His square jaw was clean shaven and dark hazel eyes looked the forge over. His appearance and his choice of black leather bikers jacket gave him a very commanding presence, the kind that could pull people in and keep them there. "Anybody fucking home?"

Ruby flinched slightly at the curse word, but let it slide for now. He must have been running late. "Over here!" Ruby waved to him. He looked around once more as if to see if there was anyone else there.

There wasn't. Everyone else had left to drop off their designs to be made. It was just the two of them right now. "Hey, mister! Right here!" Ruby called to him once more. He approached the design table, whistling some tune as he did so.

He casually plopped himself down across from her and kicked his feet up on the table. Not wanting to skip out on introductions she began. "Hi there! I'm-,"

"Don't tell me." He held up a hand to signal her to stop talking. His eyes were drawn to her red cape and hood. "Let me guess. Halloween!" Ruby tilted her head to the side in confusion. "You're going as Little Red Riding Hood, right? C'mon tell me I'm right, I know I am so just say it."

"Well…no. My name's Ruby. Ruby Rose." She didn't know who Red Riding Hood was, but she sounded awesome!

"Huh. No shit." He cursed again. "Well then Ruby, my name's Negan."

"Cool name," she told him. "Are you here to design a weapon?"

"More of a backup weapon in case my wrecking ball dick ever breaks down. It won't by the way," he said, "but you can never be too fucking sure." At this point Ruby clasped her hands over her ears. Negan looked at her curiously. "What the fuck are you doing?"

She shook her head. "Swear!" She shouted.

"What?" Negan asked again. "Don't tell me you've never heard the word fuck said before." She pressed her hands harder over her ears. That actually seemed to amuse him somewhat. "Oh my goodness! You haven't, have you?! Not a big deal really it's just a word not like I invented it or its hurting anybody. Fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck."

"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" She shook her head, her face becoming red at the use of all the swears. The smile Negan was wearing seemed to falter for the briefest of moments, but e regained a playful one soon enough.

He brought his hands up in an ease up gesture. "Alright alright," he relented. "I will admit I was doing that to try and get a rise out of you." She pouted a bit. "And you have my thanks for being a sport and playing along with it, albeit unknowingly. Cute pout by the way."

Ruby fidgeted to readjust herself in her seat. "That was pretty mean of you." This Negan wasn't making a very good first impression.

"Well I'm not the nicest person, so I would say that's pretty fucking fitting, wouldn't you?"

"Swear," she called him out on.

Negan swung his legs off of the table to sit upright. "But if we could get to the meat of the matter, I was told that you have quite the knack for building some pretty kickass weapons. And if I could just say _that_ is a pretty badass feat in of itself."

That got Ruby to perk up a bit. As far as she could tell he sounded genuine in his appraisal. "Uh, yeah that's me! Ruby Rose weapons extraordinaire!" Her statement seemed to amuse Negan.

"Pardon me Ruby for asking such a question, but do you have any of these kickass weapons on you by chance?" Negan asked. "That wasn't too rude of me was it? Nowhere close to asking for a date to put out without paying for dinner beforehand right?"

"Are you kidding?!" Ruby excitedly said as she jumped out of her seat to bring out Crescent Rose in all of its scythe glory. "Meet my baby."

"Hot _damn!_ " Negan exclaimed at the sight of it. "That thing is fucking huge! What are you like five foot three? And here you are handling a weapon nearly the size of my dick! _That_ is fucking awesome." Ruby found herself letting his swears slide this time considering he seemed just as enthused about her weapon as she had been when she first made it.

Ruby pulled the lever back. "And it's also a high impact sniper rifle."

"A motherfucking gun?! Damn girl you are just full of surprises." Negan leaned forward. "I can see why you're the one doing this."

Ruby smiled. "Yeah. Happy to help."

"Good to hear."

"So, do you have an idea of what kind of weapon?" Ruby asked. "You look like a mace type of guy. Or what about a great sword? A pair of gauntlets like my sister? Or maybe even a-,"

"I was thinking a bat," Negan interrupted her listing.

"I was about to say that," Ruby said. She pulled up another blueprint and drew out a decent length design. "Do you want like polish on the metal to make it look like wood?"

"Hell to the yeah sister!" Negan agreed as he too leaned to see what she was sketching out. "Can we make that sucker a gun like your fucktastical scythe?"

"Sure can!" Ruby began to sketch where the gun would come out of. His previous swear lost on her as she poured herself into the design. "What kind of gun? I'm thinking like a minigun or shotgun."

Negan clapped his hands together. "It's like you can read my mind. And while we're at it, let's add some barbed wire to the end of it."

"Oohh, dangerous," Ruby commented as she sketched that out as well. "Do you know what would make that even cooler? If the barbed wire could spin while you swing!"

"Shit, fuck. You can make it do that?" Negan sounded more excited than confused.

Ruby nodded and showed him how a mechanism on the base of the bat would allow the barbed top half to rotate. She had to admit, Negan might not have made the best first impression, but he seemed to like weapons, so that was a plus.

"And then you can a built in rocket launcher!" Ruby said in bit of a weapons craze. "It could be all like- Boom! And KaBoom! And-!"

"Going a little overboard there," Negan cut her off much to her embarrassment.

"Sorry," she apologized. "I get kind of carried away with this."

"Don't be," Negan said. "I like the way your mind works when it comes to this weapons shit. And look at that. You didn't even flinch when I fucking swore just now. That is what I call progress."

"Uh, yeah I guess," she admitted a bit reluctantly. "Have you thought of a name?"

"Huh?"

"You know, a name." Ruby repeated. "I named mine Crescent Rose, and my sister Yang named hers Ember Celica. A lot of people name theirs."

Negan pondered this new bit of news. "You know what? I think I have the perfect name for this beauty. I shall dub her Lu-," he caught himself as he was about to say the name. "The Ex-Wife."

"What made you pick that name?" Ruby curiously asked.

"Because she's cold, hard, and will fuck you up," Negan answered.

"Uhhh," Ruby trailed. "Cool?"

"Damn straight it's cool," Negan agreed. "It's cooler than cool, its ice cold. So how long until this gets made?"

"Probably a day or two at most," Ruby told him standing up from the work table. Negan stood as well and their height difference was quite drastic. "You can give this to the blacksmith and he can get started on it right away." She handed him the blueprint.

"Don't mind if I do," Negan accepted the print from her. "Pleasure working with you Ruby. You might be small," she pouted, "but damn do you know your shit when it comes to this stuff!"

Ruby's pout turned into a smile. "Y-yeah! I'm glad I got to help!" He might have a potty mouth, but maybe he wasn't so bad.

* * *

Wind blew Dwight's hair as he and the rest of the horary Hunters traveled in a Bullhead to some forest. Once their weapons had been forged they were allowed to shadow a team of Hunters in training to perform a field test of sorts. Team CFVY if he remembered correctly.

The team consisted of a girl wearing some designer clothing and a pair of sunglasses, a boy who was seemingly blind covered in scars, a tall muscular boy with a _huge_ sword, and a girl with a pair of rabbit ears coming out of the top of her head. Dwight had to keep himself from staring at them by averting his attention to the green scenery passing by beneath their ship.

The girl was one of those faunus that he was told about for sure. He had thought they would be much more animal, but aside from the obvious ears, this girl looked like any other her age. But that didn't make it any less strange for him to see. Staring at her ears was probably the equivalent of someone staring at his scar. It was there, they all knew it was there, so best not to make a big deal out of it.

"Hey." He felt some one give him a tap on his leg. Looking up he saw it was the team leader, the girl in the designer clothes, Coco.

"Yeah?" He asked, not sure why she gotten his attention.

"Don't be a stranger." She told him with a wink behind her sunglasses and a gesture to the other side of the ship where Magna and Yumiko were holding a conversation with the tall boy, and the girl with rabbit ears.

"She actually bought the entire isle?" He heard Magna ask the rabbit eared girl. She seemed to be ignoring her ears to a certain extent. Maybe if she kept talking it would be easer for her to come to terms with.

"She said she might as well since it was on clearance," Velvet told her.

"And four pairs of shoes as well," Yatsu chimed in.

"And it was worth it," Coco defended her image.

"Sounds like you in college," Yumiko teased Magna.

"That was one time," Magna told her.

"Yeah, one time each semester." That elicited some chuckles from the other passengers. Dwight spotted Negan even sporting bit of a teasing smile. He would have complained about the other man being here, but if there was a chance he would die out here, then he would keep it to himself.

"The things they will talk about huh?" Laura asked from her spot next to him.

Dwight shrugged. "Whatever helps calm their nerves." They knew today would be their first day encountering the creatures called Grimm, and there was bound to be nervous feelings with that.

"What about you?" Laura asked. "What are you doing to calm yourself?"

"Watching to land pass by," Dwight answered. His attention now back to looking out the open side.

"Sounds boring," Laura and Coco both said.

"Jinx," Yumiko said.

Michonne came to back Dwight up. "Whatever helps right?"

"Well don't get too comfortable now," Coco advised. "We'll be landing soon and it's hunting season from then on." Dwight saw that she was right as the ground came closer and closer, until finally it touched down in a clearing. "Alright, we got the green light!" Coco called out. "Let's do it."

* * *

A/N: I hope nobody minds me giving Rick a brace for his leg. His New Beginning appearance is cool, but he can't do nearly as much as he could since his leg was broken. And the reason why Negan didn't name his new weapon Lucille was because of a line he said in 162 about how he was sorry he even named a bat after her in the first place. Next chapter will be the encounter with Grimm. Thank you for reading. Also if you haven't read issue 166 yet I don't want to spoil it but, that table is now in my top three favoite characters list alongside Negan and Rick. that table deserves its own spin off comic. That table is going to steal the show when it gets adapted into t.v. format. Daniel Day Lewis would bring life to that table in a way no actor could. Praise the table.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: The Walking Dead is owned by Robert Kirkman and Image Comics, and RWBY is owned and property of Rooster Teeth. I own nothing.**

* * *

Dwight planted his boots on the ground and raised his crossbow to scan the area. It felt slightly heavier than it was before. Probably due to whatever modifications were done to it, and that was probably for the better. Killing these…Grimm wouldn't be like killing a run of the mill walker. No, walkers were slow and stupid and could easily be outrun and evaded. He knew little to nothing about Grimm, save for what he had been told about them resembling great black animals covered in bone.

Michonne covered his right side with her katana drawn. She kept her newer one sheathed however. That woman was damn deadly with the one, with two she might just be a one woman army. Coco and her team disembarked the aircraft as well.

"Alright," the team leader addressed, "this area is known for housing Beowolves and Ursa that have been terrorizing a local village. Not cool. If we stick together we'll have a greater chance of not getting outnumbered by them." Dwight caught sight of Negan cross his arms before beginning to walk off into the foliage.

"Where are you going?" Dwight demanded of his former leader.

Negan only cast a half backwards glance in his direction. "Just for a little stroll Two-Face, I have to take a massive fucking piss. I might have a cock the size of a freight train, but I have the bladder of a kitten." He continued to walk away from the rest.

Coco sighed and rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses. "Velvet," she addressed the girl with the rabbit ears.

"Yes?"

Coco nodded her head in the direction Negan had gone. "Follow him would you? We have our own problems without him getting himself killed."

Velvet appeared a bit hesitant. "Are you sure Coco?"

"Sure I'm sure. And if you get into trouble you can use it. I know you've been saving up this semester."

"Alright," Velvet agreed. "I'll just…follow him then."

Once Velvet had taken off after Negan, Coco gave them the rundown of the plan. "We head North to where the village is, chances are that's where most of them will be. After that we circle around back here where we'll meet up with the pilot." Dwight almost gave her a nod of respect. It was a pretty sound plan similar to some strategies they used to herd large groups of walkers. "And if nobody else is going to walk off on us, I suggest we get to it."

No one raised any complaints and the assembled group followed after Fox who was leading the way North. "Hey," Dwight said as he walked alongside Coco.

"What's up?" She asked after straitening her beret.

"I just have a favor to ask is all," he said in a much lighter tone.

"Well I'd be happy to give you some fashion tips if that's what this is about." Coco lightly joked. Dwight didn't smile.

"No," he told her. "Just, if I or someone in my group dies out here I need you to promise me something." That caught her attention as she slightly lowered her sunglasses. "If that happens, do us all a favor and make sure you destroy our brains after that happens."

That actually got Coco to pause in her tracks. "What?"

"I just need to make sure that you or your team would do that if my people and I all wind up dead," Dwight repeated. "You have to damage our brain. Stab it, shoot it, crush our head if you have to. Just make sure that it gets done."

"Alright dude," Coco said in clear disbelief. "I don't know what you're on right now, but if this is some kind of joke I'm not laughing."

"It's not a joke," Dwight told her. "I wish it was. But it's not. We have this…disease, it's airborne, and if we die it might spread." Dwight knew that what he told her was only a half truth. They still had the walker virus in their systems for sure, but it wouldn't spread in the air if they died, only if they turned and bit someone. And what he told her was a lot more believable than coming back from the dead.

Coco fixed his brown eyes with her chocolate colored ones as if trying to determine if he really was trying to fool her. "Well then don't die," she told him. "That way I don't have to do anything do I?" The two of them picked up their pace to catch up to the others.

* * *

The forest really was quite quiet at the moment. And Dwight didn't like it one bit. Back in their world you could usually always hear the shuffling of leaves on the forest floor from either am animal or a wandering walker, or maybe even just the sound of birds chirping in the trees. Here it was almost eerily quiet and save for a black bird watching them from a branch, there was nothing.

 _Krik!_

Dwight spun to where he heard the noise, his crossbow poised and ready to fire. Everyone else tensed as well at the noise, but they lowered their guard when they saw the deer emerge from a thicket. It blinked at them a few times before scampering off into the woods.

"Little tense there, huh?" Laura asked him, a teasing smile on her face.

"Comes with the job, you know that," Dwight said as he lowered his weapon. "This just feels a little unreal, that's all."

"Heh, I know what you mean on that one," Laura agreed. "It kinda feels like we're-,"

"Look out!" Dwight yelled as he threw himself on top of her to knock her away from the black mass that had jumped from the surrounding foliage.

"Weapons hot everyone!" Coco yelled as the black wolf barded its teeth at all of them. Its red eyes burned with hatred, and saliva fell from its jowls. But what stuck out to Dwight the most were the bones that protruded from the head, back, and forearms. So this was a Grimm.

The beast locked its glowing red eyes on Dwight, who quickly drew his crossbow once more. It snarled as it crouched low to the ground and tensed its shoulder muscles. If it behaved anything like a real wolf, then Dwight knew what was going to happen next.

It was as Dwight thought, the Grimm pounced, with claws outstretched and teeth barred. A ferocious growl escaping its throat as it soared through the air.

Acting on pure instinct, Dwight fired a bolt, which struck the Grimm square in the chest. But he didn't stop there. With the new auto reload installed Dwight quickly fired off two more bolts that lodged their way into the Beowolf. The force of impact actually knocked the creature back before it could strike him or Laura.

However it was not enough to kill it.

Dwight stared almost slack jawed as the creature somehow was able to rise once more, considering it had three bolts stuck in its chest. It howled again, this time sounding even more angry and ferocious than before. Hurriedly, Dwight reached into his pocket and pulled out the second part of his upgraded crossbow: a detonator.

 _Please, let this work!_ Dwight thought as he pressed his thumb down on the small red button.

 _BeepBeepBeep_

 _BABOOOOOOOM!_

The Beowolf was blasted completely off the ground and flew about ten feet backwards where it crashed back down. Black mist seemed to seep off of the Grimm's body in small droves, before the carcass itself disappeared as well. "Holy shit," Dwight said to himself, looking from his weapon to the now dissolved Grimm. "This thing really works."

"Hey Dwight," Laura said in bit of a star struck daze. "Not that I don't like this position, but could you please get off now?" Dwight noticed that he was still partially covering Laura from when he had tackled her out of the way. He stood up fully and offered her a hand.

"We're not out of the woods yet!" Coco said as glowing red eyes suddenly starting popping up amongst the trees surrounding them. "Get ready, because they're coming."

Another Beowolf leapt from the trees straight towards Michonne. The woman narrowed her eyes at the incoming attack and her katana clashed with its bony claws. Sparks flew as they exchanged attacks.

Michonne knocked another strike away and swiftly drew her new second katana. The blade glowed a blood red in stark contrast to her usual steel and it gave off a very deadly vibe to it. And evidently the Grimm got to experience that feeling much better than he could, as she plunged her new blade straight through the bottom of its jaw and continuing on until the tip of the sword protruded from the top of its bone plated skull. Dwight made a mental note never to piss her off.

" _Rawwr!_ " A Beowolf had snuck up on him and lunged with an open mouth, until a chain of sorts had wrapped around its mouth.

"Don't go getting distracted now," Laura told him as she pulled the chain down bringing the Grimm with it.

"Stand aside," Coco said as her briefcase began to morph into a minigun. "I got this one." With the Grimm being held in place Coco fired a barrage of bullets into the Grimm, killing it almost instantly.

Yumiko and Magna had taken up double teaming a bear like Grimm, an Ursa Minor. Both girls had to step back as it reared up on its hind legs to let out a defiant yell. "So, this is what happened to Winnie huh?" Yumiko nervously said as she notched an arrow into her bow.

"Not really the time for jokes," Magna said sounding less fearful, but nervous all the same. "I don't know about you, but I would like that thing much better if it were dead."

Nodding, Yumiko set her arrow flying, and it struck a lethal shot in one of the Ursa's eyes. " _RAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!_ " The Ursa roared in pain and anguish.

"Is it dying?" Yumiko asked. She got her answer when the Ursa locked her in its sight with its one remaining eye. "Oh, fuck me."

The Ursa charged her, and Magna stepped forward to defend her friend. She raised her machete and the Ursa ran straight into the outstretched blade. The Grimm growled at Magna, who pulled her blade out and brought it back down again. Yumiko fired another arrow, blinding the Grimm in its other eye.

Wanting to end the fight soon, Magna tried something new. She pressed a button on the hilt of her machete and watched as the blade began to split apart and turn itself into a gun. "Time to try this out." She pulled the trigger and Dust rounds penetrated the unprotected underbelly of the Ursa. The Grimm let out one final roar before crumpling to the forest floor as black mist evaporated off of it.

Panting slightly, Magna looked at her weapon. "Okay," she said after she calmed her breathing. "This is officially the coolest fucking thing." Yumiko didn't respond to her.

"I think you might want to look at that then," Yumiko told her, pointing to where Fox and Yatsu were fighting an Ursa of their own. Well…fighting being a strong word. It was more or less a one sided slaughter for the Grimm.

Yatsu wielded his great sword like it was nothing, and using the flat of his blade knocked the Ursa through the air to an awaiting Fox. The scarred boy clenched his fists and just when the Ursa was mere feet from him, Fox delivered a two handed punch strong enough to send the Grimm flying back towards Yatsu.

Magna could only compare that to a game of pinball as the force of Fox's punch still carried the Grimm to a now awaiting Yatsu. This time Yatsu brought his great sword down on the Ursa to hit it, and not with the flat end.

The force of impact seemed to dissolve the creature on sight and actually created a small crater in the ground. Yatsu shouldered his sword like it was nothing while maintaining a stone faced appearance.

"I stand corrected," Magna admitted.

* * *

Meanwhile, Negan continued his own little trek through the woods. If he had to find and kill some of these "Grimm" then he would, but he would do it on his own. The last thing he needed was Dwight shooting him in the back and claiming it was an accident afterwards. Maggie would most likely praise Dwight like a fucking god or some shit if that happened, while Rick would give him a slap on the wrist and tell him not to do something like that again.

How quickly they seemed to have forgotten that Dwight was the one who put an arrow through the eye of one of their friends and now he was a part of their little inner circle. Negan shook his head at the irony of it all. "Assholes," he said to himself.

And yet he was working with those same assholes. Taking orders from Rick even, the man who had him locked up for two years. Yes, it was a complete one eighty from how he had envisioned. He knew Rick hated his guts, same with Carl, and Maggie, and basically everyone else who had found themselves in this "Remnant." So why was he still going to work with them?

The first reason being he had little to no fucking choice. That academy wasn't going to employ him, and finding a job in their city? Like anyone would hire a guy with no resume, except for maybe a fast food joint, but honesty he would rather not scrub the literal toilets.

And then there was the Rick reason as he called it. That reason consisted of-

" _Grrrrrrrrr!_ "

Negan turned to the sound and saw a wolf like creature stalk its way out of the bush and begin to circle him, like a shark does its prey. "Well, fuck." Negan said as he took in the sight of the creature. "I knew you'd be ugly, but I mean _damn!_ You are like circus ugly! You are fucking herpes ugly!" He tightened his grip on his new state of the art bat. This must be one of those Grimm he was supposed to off.

" _Grrrahhhh!_ " The Grimm snarled at him, licking its lips as it eyed him up.

" _Tch,_ " Negan scoffed. "Are you just going to walk around growling, or are you going to spin the wheel you raggedy fuck?" Negan wasn't sure but his insult actually seemed to get the Grimm riled up, if that was even possible.

" _Raaaghhh!_ " The Grimm barred its sharp teeth and jumped straight towards Negan. Shit, this thing is definitely faster than a walker! Negan reacted fast and brought his bat down hard on the head of the wolf-like Grimm. " _Roooouggh._ "

The Grimm laid spread on the ground. Negan had hit it so hard that the bone plate on its skull actually fractured. The Grimm tried to rise, but its legs gave out from underneath it and the creature fell back down.

Negan looked from the fallen Grimm to his weapon. Not a scratch on it. He grinned and allowed some of his white teeth to show. Whatever this new bat was made of was strong as steel. Little Red must have really pulled through. "Hey," Negan said the still prone Grimm. "You okay? I mean I'm just asking because that hit, the one just took like a fucking second ago, really did some major league damage on you. If you're not okay give me a growl."

" _Rooogh._ "

Negan put a hand to his one ear and crouched down closer to the Grimm. "Sorry. I didn't quite catch that. Because I asked for a fucking growl, and what I got was a pitiful fucking whimper." Negan stood up and frowned down at the Grimm. "Not fucking cool. I guess that means you're okay with what happens next. I know I fucking am." Negan brought his bat down on top of the already fractured skull mask bone. This time it cracked all the way through. The head was now bent at a weird angle and had a large indent right in the middle.

"Ho-ly balls, you took that like a pro!" Negan jovially said as he brought his bat up once more. "One for the money, two for the show, and three for-," Negan was cut short as the body of the Grimm began to disappear in a cloud of black smoke. "The fuck?"

 _FLASH!_

Negan's eyes adjusted to the sudden flash of light, as he scanned where it came from. He spotted the culprit. "What the fuck are you doing?"

The girl with the rabbit ears stepped out from behind a tree with a camera in her hands. "S-sorry sir," she apologized nervously. "My team leader wanted me to follow you. You know just to make sure you didn't do anything reckless."

"Well as you can see, I handled that fucker with professionalism and shit," Negan told her. "You and you team have nothing to worry about. I can handle whatever the fuck this place can throw at…fuck me."

A pack of those wolves Grimm were emerging from behind trees and out of bushes. Some of them were smaller than the one he had just killed, while others were a bit bigger and had a lot more bones poking out of them. But they all had the same hate filled red eyes.

"Fuck."

* * *

A/N: I hope the explanation about the virus made sense, people from the walking dead universe still have it, but if they die they will still turn, and that may or may not be foreshadowing for something down the line. Next chapter will be Negan's half of the battle, along with what is going on back at Beacon. Thank you for reading.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Walking Dead is owned by Robert Kirkman, and mage Comics, and RWBY is owned and property of Rooster Teeth. I own nothing.**

* * *

What the fuck was he doing?

 _WRACKKK!_

He shouldn't be here. But yet, here he stood.

 _KRACKK!_

Just how many of these fucking things were there? Did they ever plan on stopping?

 _KRKRACK!_

Over and over; and over again. It was like an endless cycle; one that was bound in blood and death.

 _KRAKRAKK!_

But then again…that was always how it always was with him anyways.

"*huff* *huff* Fuck this," Negan's breathing was rugged as the corpses of those wolfish Grimm fell before his feet and started to disintegrate into a misty black nothingness. At least the fucking bastards had enough decency to be self cleaning. It would suck all sorts of floppy donkey dick if he had to pile all the corpses up afterward for some egghead to examine, like Eugene.

The girl with the rabbit ears, Velvet, had moved closer to him during the fighting and was watching his back. It helped when she would call out that there was one approaching from behind him considering that they kept on coming in droves. Looks like they really behaved like wolves. Or at the very least wolves that got a mutant form of rabies and got seriously fucked in the head. "You know," he said turning his head to look at velvet, "as much of a help you've been, I would really fucking appreciate it if you helped me kill some of these fuckers!"

"I will, trust me," Velvet told him, she pulled out a small box. "I'm saving up for what's coming next." Negan swore he saw her ears (the rabbit ones) twitch and perk up at some unknown sound from somewhere within the forest.

"Mind filling me in on what the fuck that would be?" Negan inquired as he brought his bat down on the head of another Beowolf that jumped at him. He brought it down again to fully crush the things head. If the Grimm didn't just evaporate then its brains would be splattered all over the ground after that hit. Negan wiped some sweat from his forehead. All alone they might be weak, but if they kept on attacking him in countless numbers, they were bound to get a lucky hit in; just like a horde of walkers.

Four more Beowolves lurked out of the tree line with their gazes set firm on him and Velvet. Negan was quickly losing his patience with these things. "Come on you fucktards!" He shouted. "You didn't see what happened to all of your buddies who tried that same shit on me?! Well guess where they are: fucking dead! Come right at me and see what the fuck happens!"

Velvet looked to him nervously. "Please, calm down. You're only attracting more if you get more angry."

"I am fucking calm!" Negan yelled. "It's these pricks who need to chill the fuck out!"

"Please!" Velvet pleaded. "If you don't calm down then it's only a matter of time until-,"

" _ **ROOOAAARR!**_ "

The Grimm wolves looked to where the sound had come from, and much to Negan's surprise, seemed to back down. "Oh no," Velvet muttered as her ears now hung low.

Negan's brow furrowed as he stared off to where the roar had come from. "Well that didn't sound fucking good."

Velvet grabbed onto the sleeve of his jacket. "We should leave," she insisted. "I know what's coming and I-,"

 _Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!_

Large paws trampled the ground as the new Grimm arrived on the scene. To Negan it looked like a giant bear. It walked on four legs, but could probably stand on its hind ones when necessary. Much like the wolf ones, this Grimm was all black with hateful red eyes; bony spikes protruded from its back and along the arms. A bone mask of sorts was also on the top of its head, but something told Negan he wouldn't be able to break it as easily as he had the wolves.

"Geez, what the fuck happened to Fozzie Bear?" Negan somewhat joked to hide his anxiety towards the Grimm.

"An Ursa Major," Velvet said, not at all excited. Negan didn't blame her for sounding that way at all. As one of the Beowolves took a step towards the both of them, the Ursa Major was quick to snap its jaws at the smaller Grimm, following it up with a low growl that sent the wolf crawling back to its mates. The message was simple: they were its kill.

"I don't give a fuck what it is," Negan said, clenching his jaw as well as his grip on his bat. "As long as we can kill this fucker it could be a mutant Smokey for all I give a shit." The Ursa let out a series of grunts and snarls as it scratched up some dirt; it shook its head from side to side in a show of aggression. Shit this was going to be bad. "Hey," Negan said to Velvet. "You said you were going to help? Well now's the fucking time."

"You're right," Velvet admitted as she looked to the box she was holding.

"Unless you can use that thing to call a damn orbital strike I don't see how in the fuck-," Negan stopped talking as blue lights started to take the form of a minigun, which Velvet was somehow able to grab a hold of, despite it just looking like an outline of a finished weapon.

"I'll distract it," Velvet told him. "I'll try to wear it down as much as I can, then you can finish it off." The barrel of the gun began to rotate, and bullets actually started to let loose from the transparent gun. They pelted the Ursa in force, but some were more effective than others. Some shots bounced harmlessly off of the bony plating, while others actually worked their way past the fur and to the flesh underneath.

" _ **RAAAWRRR!**_ " The Ursa yelled in both defiance and pain from Velvet's barrage of bullets. The Grimm then took to the defensive by lowering its head and crossing its arms in front of itself to stop any bullets from hitting its underbelly.

"Negan!" Velvet yelled, not letting up on her firing. "I'll do my best to keep it pinned down; you just try to find an opening!"

"Don't let up!" Negan ordered as he ran towards the currently immobile Grimm. "I'm not dying from this fucker." One of the Beowolves from before saw Negan quickly approaching the Ursa, and jumped in front of its fellow Grimm like a shield. "Sorry fucker! No time to play." Negan swung his bat upwards striking the Grimm from below the jaw, and followed up with a crack to the skull. "Papa has his hands full right now."

Changing his stance to that of a classic batters pose as he neared the Ursa, Negan got ready to swing. "You're out you fuck!" Negan yelled as he swung. Without Warning the Ursa swept its arm out to the side to stop Negan's strike. The barbed wiring of his bat actually found the flesh in the Grimms arm beneath the fur, but it was now stuck. " _ **GRAAARRRR!**_ " It roared in pain. Negan tried to pry his weapon loose, but to no avail. _Fuck! If I don't get it out soon-! Wait a minute…_

Thinking quickly, Negan twisted the base of his bat to see if the idea Riding Hood had worked. Sure enough the body of the bat that held the barbed wire began to whirl to life. Instead of pulling free like he had intended, he simply let the wire start spinning and cut its own way out. This elicited yet another roar of pain from the Ursa as Negan inflicted more damage. "Yeah! How's that feel?! I will fuck you up!"

Negan's bravado faded when the Ursa stood up on its hind legs to its full height of around ten and a half feet. "…fuck." With a backhanded swipe, the Ursa knocked Negan backwards sending him tumbling across the grassy ground. He didn't know how far he was sent rolling backwards, but it was enough for the sky and ground to change places about five times. His rolling came to a stop when he hit the trunk of a tree.

Grasping the bark to rise to his feet Negan fell down almost instantly as he saw the ground spinning beneath his feet. "F-fuck," he stuttered as his vision struggled to get back to normal. He distantly heard Velvet cry out in distress, but his attention was remained fixated on the Ursa, which he currently saw four of due to his disorientation. From what he could see, it looked like the Grimm was getting ready to make a straight charge right at him.

As the Ursa neared him, it raised a paw and swung down. Negan braced himself for the eventual impact, but became confused when he felt nothing. He looked up to see Velvet standing in front of him. Her minigun was gun, and she now held a sword and shield combo, which she used to block the incoming strike. "Negan!" She called his name. Velvet put more pressure behind her shield and pushed the paw backwards before following up with a slash from her sword. Her attack saw the Ursa with a wound to its shoulder.

The Ursa shifted its gaze to Velvet and roared once more. It charged her, and Velvet jumped into the air to avoid the attack. As she was airborne, Negan caught sight of her weapon changing once again. This time it was a sheathed katana with a long thread. Velvet landed on the Grimm's back and started to hack between the bones with the katana, much to the Grimm's annoyance.

To get the girl off of it, the Ursa tried to knock its back against a tree to try and squish Velvet. She jumped off before that could happen, but managed to use the thread to tie the Ursa's legs. With a fluid slash to behind the knees the Grimm fell flat on its stomach. "Quick!" Velvet shouted. "While it's down!" She didn't have to tell Negan twice. Using his bat to help him to his feet Negan trudged his way over to the now fallen Ursa. Time to test out another new addition to his weapon.

Pulling the bottom of the bat out and then in again, the top split open to allow the barrel of a gun to pop out. The Ursa fixed Negan with its red eye as he shoved the barrel of the gun right into the socket, eliciting yet another howl of pain. " _ **HRRRRGGHHH!**_ "

"Shut the fuck up." Negan fired. The shot tore right through the eye and out the opposite side of its head. Black smoke poured off the carcass in droves as the Grimm dissolved much faster than Negan would have anticipated. Hefting his new weapon, Negan couldn't help but admire it, that Red Riding Hood girl had really lived up to her hype. He felt Velvet tap his shoulder.

"Are you alright?" She asked, concerned.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Negan asked.

Velvet looked away shyly. "When you killed that Ursa…it's just…you had this look on your face."

What do you mean?" Negan asked cocking a brow.

"Well…" Velvet seemed to be struggling to find the right way to phrase it. "You looked like you enjoyed it."

"Hmm," Negan mulled that over. "Well considering the fucker sent me rolling about twenty fucking feet, I'd say that killing it was very fucking gratifying."

"I suppose," Velvet admitted. "But still-,"

"Why don't we go find the others?" Negan quickly suggested. "This spot is starting to get fucking boring." He didn't wait for her to answer as he already began walking back the way they had come.

* * *

Carl breathed in the night air as he stood out in the court yard of the school. He hadn't had much time to explore the school yet, and he really didn't want to do it while there were a bunch of people around, so he figured at night would work best. He had offered both Lydia and Sophia the chance to join him, but they had both refused saying that they were tired and just wanted to rest.

He could understand their excuse, after all he was pretty tired himself but he still wanted to explore. He would have taken to wandering some of the halls, but he had spotted an unusual sight from his window and had to go outside to see if it was true. It was.

Up in the sky the moon was broken into many different pieces, yet somehow still remaining perfectly in place. He didn't know much about outer space, but he was pretty sure gravity would have pulled one of those pieces down to the planet where it would crash. But somehow this moon seemed to defy all logic. It must be the final piece of evidence to prove that they were indeed not in Alexandria any longer.

They hadn't even been here three full days, and yet they were already being integrated into this new world. Michonne and some of the others were out there right now fighting monsters called "Grimm," his dad was getting help for his leg and hand and was working as security. Andrea, Maggie, and Jesus would be tutoring anyone who needed help, hell even Eugene was studying up to help with maintenance. It seemed the only people left without something to do were the two girls and he.

In a way it almost felt like the Hilltop scenario all over again. He thought he knew what he wanted to do, so he became Earl's protégé in blacksmithing. Then everything happened with Lydia, and soon people started looking to him as a leader, like they did with his dad.

"So, think that will make the news tomorrow morning?" A girl's voice spoke from somewhere else in the courtyard.

"I'd be surprised if it didn't," another girl spoke in a more flat tone. "A fight with a giant robot isn't your everyday occurrence." From where he was standing he saw four girls walking past. One had dark hair with bits of red in it and appeared to be the youngest. The next was a girl with white hair done in a sideways ponytail. Next there was a girl with black hair and a bow around her head. Lastly there was a blonde girl with a more than modest bust.

Carl mentally berated himself for staring at her. _You're with Lydia! Don't look!_ He smacked the side of his temple for further emphasis. "Hey, is somebody over there?" he heard the girl with the bow ask. His one remaining eye snapped open, as he turned his head slightly to see the four girls staring at where he was standing. Crap!

"Uh, hey there!" The hooded girl waved to him in a friendly and innocent manner. With still only looking at them from his left side, Carl gave a hesitant almost haphazard wave in return. "What are you doing out so late?" t didn't look like they had seen his exposed eye socket from where they were.

"Oh. Just…walking around," Carl told her. "I needed some fresh air is all."

"I don't think I've ever seen you around here before," the white haired girl examined him with an almost securitizing gaze.

"Well, I'm not exactly from around here." Carl told her. "I just got here a few days ago."

"Oh!" The blonde one exclaimed. "You must be visiting for the Vytal Tournament. You look a little young though."

"Well uh, not exactly. My dad got a job as campus security, and my stepmom is a tutor."

"Hey, is your dad the guy with the claw hand?" Hood girl asked. "Rick Grimes, right?"

"Uh…yeah," Carl admitted as much. "You met him?"

"The other day yeah!" She nodded. "I helped him design his new weapon. Has he used it yet? Do you know?"

"…Not that I know of," Carl said. The girl came up to introduce herself.

"Well my name's Ruby, and who're you…?" Carl knew why she began to trail off. She had seen his missing eye.

"I'm Carl," he introduced back, tilting his head, so she could focus more on the normal half of his face. He found that put people more at ease.

"Right!" Ruby suddenly blurted out. "Nice to meet you! Why wouldn't it be nice? Of course it's nice, you seem nice! And I'm making this really embarrassing aren't I?"

Carl could see that she actually seemed torn up about having stared at his socket. "I've been more embarrassed," he tried to reassure her. "Believe me." Ruby's other friends seemed to be trying to focus on his remaining eye as well.

"Right," she laughed nervously. "I don't really do well with first impressions. Right Weiss?" she asked the white haired girl.

"You could use some improvement in that field," she said in a nonchalant manner.

"The same could be said about you," the bow girl said to Weiss. "I'm Blake by the way," she introduced to Carl.

"And I'm Yang!" The blonde greeted. "I'm the older sister to this cutie!" Yang wrapped her arm around Ruby despite the other girls protests. "Yang!" Ruby pleaded. Carl couldn't help but smile a little at their antics. They seemed like the type of people that would have been welcomed at Alexandria or the Hilltop even. If he wanted to get used to living in this world, then maybe making a few friends couldn't hurt.

* * *

A/N: I hope the battle scene was enjoyable. I had a lot of fun writing dialogue for Negan when he fights. Next chapter will be at a slower pace and focus more on the characters at Beacon. Thank You for reading.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: The Walking Dead is owned by Robert Kirkman and Image Comics. And RWBY is owned and property of Rooster Teeth. I own nothing.**

* * *

The Bullhead made is descent down towards the landing pad to allow its occupants to hop off. "Thanks for the lift," Coco told the pilot giving him a thumbs up. "Good to be back here at Beacon." The rest of Team CFVY hopped out as well followed by the rest of the honorary Huntsman. "Good work out there people."

"Thanks for coming with," Michonne thanked. "Sometimes numbers can make the difference in a situation like that."

"No problem," Coco told her. The young woman looked at Dwight. "We all made it back alive. Looks like I won't have to do anything I'd regret after all." She looked to her team. "Come on gang! Time to hit up that new store in downtown Vale!"

"What did she mean by that?" Laura asked him. "By not having to do anything she'd regret?"

"Our…'condition'," Dwight told her, not knowing what else to call it besides that.

"You told her about walkers?" Laura questioned. He could tell she wasn't exactly privy to that being well known.

"No," he put her worrying to rest. "Just that we were sick and that if any of us died to destroy our brains. Nothing about the exact details, I didn't want to alarm her."

"Smart thinking," Magna backed him.

"Wouldn't bode well for another break out to happen here," Michonne agreed as well.

"Yeah, well in case any of you hadn't noticed this place isn't exactly a world filled with lollipops, and sugar flakes, and unicorns fucking leprechauns," the voice of Negan spoke from a distance. "They got some pretty bad news here themselves."

"Shouldn't you be someplace else?" Dwight asked him. "Like handing over your weapon?"

"What?" Negan asked. "I can't take a little time to talk to the people I fought alongside with? Where's the fucking camaraderie?"

"I seem to remember you going off on your own," Michonne quipped fixing Negan with a sideways glance. "Unless you're referring to when we fought as enemies?"

"Tch," Negan scoffed, as he walked away towards Beacon. "What the fuck ever. I tried."

"Looks like someone's in a sour mood," Yumiko whispered to Magna, who replied with: "Yup."

"Try not to think about him," Michonne advised the two other girls. "You'll have a happier live that way."

"Cheers to that," Dwight said, smiling slightly. "I suppose we should go and find Rick. God knows that he would want to know about just how dangerous these Grimm are."

"I'll do it," Michonne offered. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I could use a nap after that fight." Now that was something that they could all agree on.

* * *

"Do you really think it will help?" Jaune asked his partner as they walked through one of the halls of Beacon. Combat class with Professor Goodwitch had just let out, and Jaune had once again performed…less than exceptional. "I mean I already train one on one with you, so would a tutor really help?"

Pyrrha gave a smile. "It never hurts to have a second opinion," she advised. "And that doesn't mean we have to stop our one on one, you could treat this like an extracurricular of sorts."

"So…more school work then?" Jaune asked with a slight groan.

"Only if you think of it that way," she replied. "And from what I heard this tutor is new, so perhaps it will be an experience for you both."

"Yeah, maybe," Jaune agreed. "Just as long as they aren't as strict as Goodwitch we should be good. I really can't take another one of those glares. Have you seen them? They're like knives! Like literal knives!"

Pyrrha laughed lightly. "I don't believe I've been on the receiving end before."

"Lucky you," Jaune said as he knocked on the door of the new combat tutor. "Oh, well looks like nobody's there," he concurred once the door did not open immediately. "Guess we'll just have to-,"

"Yes?" A new voice asked from the now open door. He was a tall man with a full black beard and wore his hair done up in a man bun. He wore dark jeans and a black tee shirt. "Can I help you?"

"Are you the combat tutor?" Pyrrha inquired.

"That would be me," he confirmed. "My name's Paul Monroe, but most people just call me Jesus."

"Why's that?" Jaune asked.

Jesus looked a bit perplexed at first. "I guess that makes sense you haven't heard of him. Back where I'm from he's kind of a big deal. I just happen to look like him."

"Big deal as in his dad is a big shot?" Jaune asked.

"Oh, like you wouldn't believe." Jesus said, seemingly smiling to himself like he knew an inside joke. "But what can I do for you?"

"Well, I guess I just wanted to stop by…well I'm not exactly the best fighter here, so…you see I figured…," Jaune tried to form a sentence.

"I think my partner is trying to say that he would like some help is all," Pyrrha kindly supplied for him.

"Uh, yeah," Jaune agreed. "What she said."

"Well I'm free right now if you want," Jesus offered, opening his door all the way for them to enter. Foam mats were positioned all over the room, along with foam dummies as well. One of the walls was comprised totally of mirrors giving it a very dojo vibe to it. The only thing missing was a brass gong. Jaune looked to his left and saw a very out of place gong sitting there. "That kind of came with the room," Jesus told him. "So what did you need help with?"

Where didn't he need help with. "Well uh, Pyrrha is actually helping me use my weapon better, but if I lost that then…you know," Jaune said.

"So hand to hand then?" Jesus asked.

"Uh, yeah. That."

"Well then, you came to the right place," Jesus said as he walked over to one of the mats. "Considering it is my job to help you, we can get started right away." Jaune sheepishly stood on the opposite end of the mat from Jesus. "Why don't you show me your fighting stance?" Jaune spread his legs apart and bent at the knees, bringing his arms up mid-way to his chest. "Not too bad," Jesus observed as he examined his form. "But," Jesus said raising Jaune's arm's higher. "This way it's easier to protect your face."

"Makes sense," Jaune said not too enthusiastically.

"Now throw a punch at me," Jesus instructed, standing in front of Jaune. Swallowing a notable gulp, Jaune did as was instructed and shot his right fist forward. Jesus instantly caught the punch. "What now?" Jaune acted on instinct and threw his left fist forward. Jesus caught that with ease as well. "What about now?"

"Uhh…" Jaune trailed. There were always his legs. Jaune went for a kick, but as his leg was in motion, Jesus stepped forward and tripped him up. Falling backwards, Jaune was surprised when he did not hit the mat. He looked to see Jesus still holding onto both his fists.

"Not bad," Jesus said with a smile.

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked. "You had that in the bag. I wasn't really a challenge."

"You thought fast," Jesus told him, letting go. "When plan A didn't work, you went to plan B, and then C. I say those are signs of a strategic mind. In a life or death situation, that very well could be all the difference in the world."

"Wow," Jaune said, a bit off guard from the complement. "I never really thought about it like that."

"I think that's what Professor Ozpin believes," Pyrrha backed Jesus. "He saw that you have it in you."

"Huh," Jaune muttered, a bit flustered with the praise. "I mean-I guess so. Brains over brawn any day right?" He laughed a bit. "But being able to fight like a pro would be pretty awesome too."

"Then pivoting more at your hips when you punch, might be a good way to start," Jesus/Pyrrha said simultaneously. They both looked at each other and blinked twice in confusion.

"Jinx?" Jaune asked.

* * *

After a few more tips and tricks from Jesus, the two Team JNPR members thanked the man for his time, and promised to stop by again if they ever needed any more help. "He seemed like a lively fellow," Pyrrha commented as they walked.

"No kidding," Jaune agreed. "Him and Ren could probably make like a ninja tag team duo or something."

"Like in a comic book?" Pyrrha asked.

"It could happen," Jaune told her. "But I think you were right Pyrrha, that did help."

"Anything for a friend," she said with a smile. That changed when she got a contemplative look. She and Jaune were alone at the moment. She remembered her talk with the one man, Negan, about how she shouldn't be hesitant to make a first move. "If you want, I could also help you pick out a suit for that dance that's coming up. If you wanted?"

"Huh?" Jaune was surprised by the sudden change of topic. "Yeah, that would be awesome." Pyrrha let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Any thoughts of who you wanted to go with?"

"Well there's Weiss," Jaune said. Pyrrha deflated a little. "But I mean her and Neptune might be a thing so…I have no idea."

"Oh," she said feeling a bit of hope. "No one's asked me yet either. It's never too late."

"Oh come on," Jaune said as oblivious as ever. "If you don't have a date to the dance I'll wear a dress."

"Do I get to pick the dress?" Pyrrha asked with a teasing smile.

Jaune shrugged. "As long as shows off my curves and doesn't make my butt look big."

* * *

The Next day

"* _cough, cough_ *" Glynda tried to stifle her cough after taking a sip of her coffee. She was currently in the staff room planning today's activities for her last class via her scroll. It would be a lot easier to do if she didn't have to keep coughing and blowing her nose every two minutes, but that was to be expected when one has a cold. Ozpin had insisted that she take the day off, but without a substitute she had no choice.

She had considered asking Mr. Grimes, but the man was currently being fitted for a robotic hand imported from Atlas. And all the tutors had meetings with students at the exact same time as her class, so they were out of the picture. But it was just one more class and then the day was over. After that she could rest and get back to full health once again.

Bringing up her scroll once more she examined what she had already planned out. Sparring practice once again. She could randomize teams or individuals, or she could have it all planned out ahead of time. Or she could- "Ughh!" she clutched her head as she felt a headache coming on. "Great." From the corner of her eye she saw the door to the lounge open. Instead of the usual sight of Port or Oobleck she was greeted with another sight.

"Geez, you look like shit," Negan told her as he leaned casually against the wall.

"Go. Away." She really didn't feel like dealing with him right now.

"Hostile much?" he asked, still in the lounge.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded, pushing her glasses up. "This is the _teachers_ lounge."

"Really?" he asked in mock ignorance. "I had abso-fucking-lutely no idea. I thought this was the bathroom." She narrowed her eyes at him. "What? This is a big ass campus. A guy can easily get lost."

"If you're looking for a bathroom its out and to the left," she informed him. "Now please if you would be so kind as to leave. I have a lesson to plan. _Cough, cough!_ "

"You sick or something?" Negan asked.

"No. _Cough!_ It's nothing. _Cough!_ " Well that made it hard for a convincing argument. "Just a slight cough is all."

"Riiiight," Negan drawled. "I'm going to call bullshit on that one."

"Is there a reason you're still here?" She asked, just wishing that he would leave.

"No." He admitted as much. "Buuuut, I do now. To offer upon you my service. And I don't just mean the sexual kind. Although that offer is on the table just so you know."

"And why would I accept your help?" Glynda asked, a bit irate. "And with what?"

"Why, teaching your class of course!" Negan said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No," came her instant response.

"Oh come on!" Negan said. "At least hear me out and consider it." He waited to see if she would say something, and when she did not he continued. "I seem to remember mentioning before that I used to be a motherfucking coach. I got experience working with kids shooting out of my ass like a soft serve machine. Kids can learn a thing or two from me."

"Alright," she said. "I've considered it. And my answer is still no." She coughed again, much louder than before.

"Look," Negan said. "You're a woman of rules. I can respect the absolute fuck out of that. Hell, I'll even stick to a plan if you have one." He gave her a lopsided grin. "C'mon. everyone needs some time off once and a while. Take the rest of the fucking day. I'm sure your headmaster would say the exact same fucking thing."

"…"

"…"

"… _sigh_ this last class, and you _will_ stick to what I have assigned. Do you _understand?_ "

"Crystal fucking clear." Negan smiled.

* * *

Later that day

"Blake, hurry up we don't want to be late!" Weiss' voice tore Blake away from her scroll. She had become so enraptured in her search for any activity involving Torchwick or the White Fang that the concept of time slipped her mind.

"Right," she said a bit sluggishly as she jumped off her bed. "Coming." It wouldn't do well to be late to one of Goodwitch's classes. Especially for her; Blake had been rather quite in class and being late could get her called to the front for a match she didn't have the energy to fight.

Luckily the girls arrived just before the late bell rang and were able to grab seats next to Team JNPR, with Emerald and Mercury from Haven sitting behind them. "Yo peeps!" Yang greeted their friends. "How's it _Yanging?_ "

"Better now!" Nora happily said as her friends sat down. "Goodwitch can't yell at us this class."

"Why's that?" Ruby asked curiously.

"Because she's not teaching the class today," Nora told them, smiling like a child.

"Then who is?" Weiss asked as she looked down into the sparring arena to see a new man in a leather jacket down there.

Nora leaned in closely to excitedly whisper. " _I heard from Pyrrha, he's a love guru!_ "

"Hey I know who that is!" Ruby said catching sight of who the man was.

"You know the love guru?" Yang asked her younger sister.

"Uh-huh I helped him design his weapon. Although I wouldn't call him a love guru."

"What would you call him?" Weiss asked.

"Yang, you know how when Uncle Qrow drinks too much and he starts saying all that potty language?"

"Yeah?" Yang asked, excited where this was going.

"He's kinda like that only every other word," Ruby recalled his foul mouth.

Yang grinned mischievously. "Then that means we might be able to get away with saying-,"

"Fuck," Negan spoke from down in the sparring circle looking up at everyone. "Looks like we got a full fucking house today!"

"See what I mean?" Ruby asked, already covering her ears after the first swear.

"Oh yeah!" Yang said, a bit more excited than she ought to be.

"Is this an act he's trying to keep up or something?" Blake asked not at all amused by his vocabulary.

"He isn't _seriously_ our teacher today is he?" Weiss asked. She seemed the most perturbed by his rather colorful language. "This has to be a prank or something!"

"I don't think so," Jaune leaned back in his seat to throw in his two cents.

"Well isn't this just a sight for sore fucking eyes?!" Negan looked around at all the students. "This almost brings back some fond memories. Almost but not fucking quite. But it does tingle my spine and tickle my balls in a most auspicious manner." Some students were trying not to laugh outright at his carefree speech, while others (Weiss) looked at him with disgust at his unprofessionalism.

"I guess I should introduce myself. It would be pretty fucking rude if I didn't. Hi. I'm Negan. And you all must be the porkknuckers I'll be teaching today. But as long as I'm here feel free to call me Coach."

"Ooh, he has a nickname," Nora said to Ren. "Do you think he'll give us nicknames too?"

"He very well could," Ren adamantly admitted.

"I hope mine is Miraculous Pancake!"

"Tell you all what," Negan said. "Why doesn't everybody come down here for a minute? Time for a group activity." Whispering broke out as they all stood up and made their way down into the arena. "Now that we're all together, everyone give me twenty fucking push-ups."

"Huh?" the whole class seemed to ask.

"Push-ups. Fucking twenty of them. Not that fucking hard to understand." His once jovial persona had been replaced by one that brokered no tone for disagreement. "I don't have to fucking repeat myself do I? You're all getting graded for this shit, so I don't want to hear it."

The mention of being graded was even enough for Weiss to get down and start the exercise. For some like Cardin and the larger boys they were able to finish in no time alongside Yang, but for people like Jaune, Ruby, and even Weiss to an extent had difficulty when they felt a burning in their muscles. "Goodbye cruel world," Jaune said as he collapsed just after his twentieth. "For you have forsaken me."

"I- _pant pant-_ could really do a glass of milk right about now," Ruby huffed as she finished and collapsed.

"And- _huff huff-_ a glass of iced tea," Weiss suggested as she too finished the exercise.

"What are you all doing around lying around like a bunch of fucking drunks in a piss water alley?" Negan said as he stared down at them.

"Do you know my uncle?" Ruby asked.

"No," Negan told her. "But I do know that you're doing jumping jacks next."

"I'm finished with my jumping jacks coach!" Nora said doing a few more for good measure. "What's my prize?!"

"Sit-ups," Negan replied. "Get the fuck to it Bubbly."

"Yes!" Nora exclaimed as she got down next to Ren for sit ups. "I got a _nickname_ for realzies!"

"Good for you Nora." Ren replied in his usual monotone.

Ruby, like a majority of the class quickly became exhausted as the workout continued. She thought it was going to go on all class until Weiss finally spoke up. "Excuse me," she said with bit of an irate tone.

"What the fuck is it?" Negan casually asked.

"I understand that you're a _substitute_ but this is an actual combat class," Weiss pointed out. "Are we going to actually fight?"

"Hmm," Negan mulled it over. "That is an excellent fucking point Snow White! Enough of the work out!" A majority of the class all sighed in relief. "Who wants to be the first person in a match?"

Pyrrha raised her hand. "It would be my pleasure uh, Coach."

"Fan-fucking-tastic!" Negan praised. "The first person we got is the one who I was told is allowed to take on an entire team herself! So, who shall it be?" no one seemed too willing to volunteer. "Are you fucking serious? Do I have to einey, meenie, minney, mo this shit?"

"We'll do it," Cardin volunteered his team.

"Sold to the future boy band in the back!" Negan called them up. "All of you other fuckers get your asses back up in the stands and let's let our champions fight."

Both Team CRDL and Pyrrha both went to their locker rooms and changed into their normal combat clothing. Pyrrha took to one end of the arena, while the four boys took to the other. Negan listened as cries of "Go Pyrrha!" Came from the stands along with one "Break their legs!" this Pyrrha girl sure seemed to be a fan favorite. The future boy band on the other hand didn't receive any real shouts of encouragement from their peers however.

"Well what the fuck are you waiting for?" Negan asked the combatants. "Fucking fight already."

Team CRDL made a straight Hail Mary towards Pyrrha, who kept a defensive stance at first, until the boys got closer. That was when she moved. She ducked under Cardin's mace swing, which ended up hitting a kid named Russell instead. As another strike came her way, she slid between her opponents, and used her shield to knock their legs out from under them.

Cardin swung his mace down, but Pyrrha was faster than his strike and rolled out of the way. Milo transforming into a gun, for her to fire off two shots; both of which striking Cardin dead on. _Fuck, this girl is good,_ Negan thought as watched her fight with pinpoint accuracy. Every swing she took was to either to deflect an attack, or to land one of her own. The four boys could not seem to land a single hit on her even when her shield was elsewhere. Either this chick is cheating or she really is that good.

Sword clashed with spear, mace met with shield, high heeled boot hit the face of the boy named Dove, sending him out of the arena limits. "Out of bounds!" Negan shouted at him. "Get your ass up to your seat."

More blows were traded, none of them actually landing on Pyrrha. Russell had taken to fighting her one on one, a stupid fucking move if you would ask Negan, but the boy didn't seem to be thinking about that. He should maybe have waited for the rest of his team to come and back him up. He didn't. Russell jumped and sent a few kicks at her, but they were blocked by her shield.

Now it was her turn to attack. Using both her spear and shield, Pyrrha knocked aside both of Russell's blade swords and dropped down suddenly to perform a spin that knocked his legs out from under him. "You're out!" Negan gestured with his thumb for him to go into the stands and to his seat. It was just two on one now, and Pyrrha was still going strong.

Cardin reared his mace back, and in the process actually hit his own teammate, sending the other boy to the ground. As the boy, sky, tried to rise, Pyrrha struck with a few shots fired from her spear/gun. As she proved so far, she was a competent shot as they each found their mark on their target. "You got got!" Negan commentated as the match came down to the final two.

Negan tried his best to keep his eyes focused on the fight, but it was fast. So fast he could barely comprehend what happened and how. Cardin made the first move to strike that was for sure, but Pyrrha was the one who had the advantage. Somehow both had ended up airborne, and Pyrrha put her spear around Cardin's neck as she traveled back to the ground. "Ho-ly fuck," Negan uttered when the dust settled and Pyrrha stood, Cardin was somehow okay, but clearly unable to fight any longer.

"And we have a winner!" Negan said as he made his way into the arena. Taking a hold of Pyrrha's hand he held it up high. "Are you not entertained?!" A round of applause ensued as well as more admiration for Pyrrha. "My-my time fucking flies when you're having fun. I think we only have time for one more fight. Any fucking volunteers?"

A boy with gray hair raised his hand. "I'll do it."

"Now that's what I fucking like to see!" Negan said as he beckoned the boy down. "What's your fucking name son?"

"Mercury," the boy replied as he stood.

"Now how about a volunteer for the boy, huh?"

"Actually," Mercury said. "I want to fight…her." He pointed at Pyrrha.

"Me?" she asked.

"She just got done with a fucking fight," Negan told the boy. "Pick someone else."

"No, it's fine!" Pyrrha agreed. "I'd be happy to oblige."

Mecrury made his way down into the area with a bit of a strut that Negan found that he didn't really like. The boy was giving off a very cocky edge to him. Looking down he saw what looked like gauntlets on the boys boots. Those must be his weapons. These people have a fucking imagination on them that's for damn sure.

Making his way out of the arena, Negan passed Pyrrha as she took to her end. He leaned over and whisper to her: "Sweep the leg."

"But, Coach-," she began.

"No mercy," he told her.

Once both opponents were ready Negan gave them to go ahead. Pyrrha landed the first hit when she swept Mercury's leg out from under him with Milo. _Fucking nice._ Mercury recovered quick and sprang back into position and took to the offensive. A series of jump kicks had Pyrrha blocking them with her shield, but being pushed back from the force of the strikes.

She eventually pushed Mercury away with her shield, but he managed to catch himself before he hit the ground. He was actually doing pretty good against her compared to the last group. Mercury went for a spin kick and actually managed to knock Milo out of Pyrrha's grasp. She raised her shield but another kick sent that away as well.

It looked like someone was actually about to land a blow on the so far untouchable warrior. That was why it came as a shock as Mercury's boot missed her by just a hair leaving the boy with a very thoughtful expression.

Taking this opportunity to her advantage, Pyrrha retrieved her fallen weapons, and raised her shield as Mercury planted both boots on it and fired off backwards towards the other end of the arena. Pyrrha made a dash for her opponent, but Mercury ended the match with two words: "I forfeit."

With eyes wide, Pyrrha ran right past Mercury as she came to a halt. "You…don't even want to try?"

"Yeah?" Negan asked as he walked out. "What the fuck kid don't blue ball the audience like that."

"What's the point?" Mercury shrugged. "She's a world renowned fighter, we're obviously leagues apart." The bell rang signaling the end of class.

"I hope you know you're getting a fat fucking zero for today," Negan told Mercury who was already walking out.

"Oooh, I forgot to mention," Mercury said in a tone full of condescension. "I'm visiting from Haven, not actually a student here. Sooo…yeah I'll just be on my way out." He left alongside a green haired girl.

"Cocky fuck," Negan said to himself and to Pyrrha who was still in the arena. "All of you go hit the locker room."

* * *

Boys locker room

"Ugh!" Jaune groaned as he changed into his regular attire alongside Ren. "That workout has me feeling sore all over."

"It would seem even with Goodwitch out for the day, we were still given the proper exercise," Ren said, seemingly less sore than Jaune.

"I don't get how Nora was able to keep up with all the sets," Jaune said putting his hoodie on.

"Her grandmother was crazy strong," Ren said. "She told me."

The door to the locker room opened with a band as Negan came walking in looking none too happy. "Alright boys hold it down," Negan said as he got their attention. "I found the closest thing to a cherry Ringpop, which is fucking delicious by the way!" he held up the candy. "And also this steroid syringe in the shower, which means one of you chuggernuts here is juicing, and we're not leaving here until we find out who!"

Negan had them all line up as he panned by. The last boy in line was almost as tall as he was and was lifting two weights at a time. "Arc! Front and fucking center!" Negan called Jaune forward.

"Uh, um…here coach," Jaune said.

"I fucking see that," Negan said as he handed him a plastic cup. "Now go in the bathroom and fill this up with your piss."

"My…pee?" Jaune asked.

"Your piss in the cup, now." Negan said as Jaune scampered into the bathroom. With Jaune gone for the moment Negan turned to the remaining boys. "Really boys? Fucking really?!" He walked down the line up of boys. "Fucking steroids?! Un-fucking-believable!"

"Uh, coach," Jaune said coming back from the bathroom. "I uh, can't make the pee come out."

"Son of a motherfuck!" Negan stormed up to Jaune, towering over him. "Now you fucking listen to me: you are going to go in there and fill this cup up with your piss, or I swear to the almighty fuck I'm going to stick a fire hose inside of you and you're going to have piss coming out of holes you didn't know you had!"

"…I think I have to pee now," Jaune said disappearing into the bathroom once more.

"Now," Negan said rolling a chalk board out. "Now do you fucktards have any fucking idea what stacking will do to your body?" he drew a stick figure on the board. "Look at that Michelangelo shit right there."

Negan began to draw circles and dots on the stick figures face. "Scat-dit da-diddly dit da da pizza factory!" he drew a triangle next. "Your back is going to look the Rocky's the Himalayans', and the Alps are making love!" the drew a bunch of bumps on the triangle. He turned back to the stick figure. "Then up front where your B bites are, you're going to get some big, supple, delicious Jennifer Love Hewett's going on." He began to draw a pair of breasts.

"And I mean _supple,_ " he began to draw nipples and everything. "They're fucking beautiful like this. And they wouldn't be lopsided like I made them here. No, they'd be perky like that, and all sweet fucking hallelujah."

"Uh, coach," Jaune came back with a full cup.

"Hand it here," Negan took the cup from Jaune. He sniffed it once, and much to everyone's disgust took a sip and spit it back. "You're clean." Jaune sighed in relief. "So what the fuck's it going to be boys?" Negan asked. "Am I going to have to test every single fucking one of you?" the large boy who had been lifting weights raised his hand. "What do you want Colomez?"

"I-it's me," he said. "I'm the kid whose been juicing."

"Son of a bitch," Negan said shaking his head. "You know what has to happen next right?"

Colomez was sentenced to serving juice to the elderly for the rest of the semester.

* * *

A/N: The next chapter will focus on more of the walking dead characters at beacon than just Negan, and will also lead into my own original arc. Did anyone spot the Karate Kid reference? And the last part of this chapter in the locker room is meant as a parody of Mad Tv's Coach Hines drug bust. Thank you for reading.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: The Walking Dead is owned by Robert Kirkman and Image Comics, and RWBY is owned and property of Rooster Teeth. I own nothing.**

 **A/N: I just wanted to say that the ending of last chapter was a joke, a parody in fact of a Mad Tv sketch as I mentioned in the authors note at the end of last chapter. It was not meant to be taken seriously.**

* * *

 _Slkkk, sckkk._ The robotic hand created a bit as its fingers curled to make a fist, before extending to flex each digit. Rick looked at his new prosthetic, it was primarily chrome in color, but had gray-blue lines that pulsated with energy throughout supplying power. It felt weird to be honest, especially compared to his real left hand. His left he could feel the skin and flesh connected to the rest of his person, he had control with his left. His new right felt…foreign. But then again everything about this place was foreign.

"So? How's it feel?" Andrea asked him as he sat on one of the hospitals beds. Both her and a man with the title of General awaited her reaction. Andrea, for obvious reasons and the General because it was his technology after all. Rick clenched his new hand once more to get a better feel of it.

"It's better than my claw that's for sure," Rick honestly answered. "With this and the leg brace I'll be back in my prime in no time. So long as I can get used to this thing that is."

"I assure you," the General spoke, "that you'll be back up to one hundred percent in no time with this prosthetic. We spare no expense in Atlas when it comes to furthering technology." Rick reached to pick up a coffee mug with his new hand, only to accidently crack the handle from excessive force.

"It might take some time getting used to," Rick deadpanned at the broken mug. Luckily there had been no coffee in the mug, it would have made a mess otherwise.

"Without a doubt," the General agreed. "But with time it will feel like a real hand." The General bid them a farewell and left the both of them to their solitude.

"You've come far," Andrea observed. "A leg brace, a futuristic robot hand, and a hatchet that turns into a gun. Am I missing anything?"

"Not a thing," Rick said, flexing a few of his metal fingers again. The science behind how it worked escaped him. Something about it being able to pick up on his nerve endings and tendons and being able to adapt in accordance with that. But in the language of the average joe, if he thought about it, it moved.

"Now you just need to grow your hair out some more and trim that beard, and you'll actually look your age," Andrea said seemingly joking, but Rick knew a part of her like the older version of himself. He supposed it had something to do with his ruggedness or something along those lines. The current version of himself looked a lot like Douglas when he had first met the former leader of Alexandria.

Rick feigned a look of betrayal. "You mean, you don't like my beard?"

"I don't exactly want to feel like I'm kissing Santa Claus now do I?" She lightly teased, playing with the hair on his chin. "But you really are in need of a trim."

"Are you offering then?" Rick asked. "I didn't know you had such refined barbering skills. And we've only been together for almost three years."

"I'm about as much a barber as Michonne is a fairy princess, but that doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to hair," Andrea said to him. "Now what do you say we go for a walk? Maybe even test that leg brace out and have a race?"

"A race?" Rick repeated. "We're adults you know?"

"I know," Andrea admitted. "But coming from a place where the word fun has lost little to all meaning, I think we're overdue for one, don't you?"

" _Heh,_ " Rick lightly chuckled at the mental image of him as a child winning a big race at his old preschool. "You really are damn persuasive."

"Like you don't love it."

Together they left the infirmary and set out for the courtyard. The walk proved to be easy for Rick, the leg brace being the driving reason behind that. He hardly felt any flaming pain in his limb anymore and his limp was all but gone. Now he just had to master his new hand and we would be as fit as a fiddle.

"Rick!" the former sheriff looked to see Michonne and Maggie walking towards the two of them. "You look different," Maggie observed taking in the sight of his new artificial appendage.

"Different, good?" Rick asked already knowing the answer.

"Definitely," she agreed. "Long time coming wasn't it?"

"Without a doubt," Michonne agreed as well. "You're moving around like a new man."

"I _feel_ like a new man," Rick stated. "I just wish we had the resources to have made one of these ourselves back when I first lost it." Michonne cast him a sympathetic look, clearly remembering the day that it happened. "I see you have that new sword on you," Rick said, spotting the extra sword Michonne had hanging from her side. "I take it you got a chance to use it?"

Michonne nodded, placing a hand on the hilt. "On our mission, yes."

"And…?" Andrea asked trying to coax her to telling more. "What did you think of it?"

"It's lighter than my regular one," she seemed to settle on. "But it's more powerful. Whatever exactly this "Dust" is isn't to be taken lightly." Michonne slid the base of the blade out for them to see the red coloring. "It seems to be the best way of killing these "Grimm.""

"Speaking from experience on that one?" Maggie asked to which she received a nod.

"The others will tell you as much as well," Michonne added. "I should probably tell Eugene as well he is the brains after all. Do you know where he is?"

"Probably the library," Andrea answered. "I swear he's not going to leave until he's read and memorized every book in there." While Eugene's official title at the academy was that of Technology Maintenance, the man was usually always busy studying up on the world of Remnant one way or another.

"Thanks," Michonne told Andrea before heading off in search of Eugene.

"Mind if I tag along?" Maggie asked Rick and Andrea. "I gave baby Hershel over to Sophia, and she's with Carl and Lydia, probably at the courtyard."

"Not at all," Rick told her. "Lead the way." Obliging his request, Maggie walked in front of them and headed in the direction she believed to be the courtyard. It became a bit apparent that she was still getting used to the layout. "You do know the way right?"

"Of course I do," Maggie told him. "I've seen where it is, it'd just be easier with a map is all."

"We could always ask a student for directions," Rick suggested. At that both women looked at him like he was crazy. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing," Maggie said. "It's just…"

"Just what?"

"It's just that-isn't it against the male code to ask for directions or something?" Andrea filled in for Maggie. Oh.

Rick shook his head dismissively. "That's just an old stereotype."

"Is it? Is it really?"

"Of course, my brother Jeff was always asking where to go. Man was always wandering off." (Rick does have a younger brother named Jeff. He was mentioned in issue #3 and was featured in The Walking Dead: The Alien)

* * *

Courtyard

"Oh my gosh! He's so cute!" Carl, Sophia, and Lydia could only watch with mild shyness and confusion as the red hooded girl cooed over the sight of baby Hershel in Sophia's arms. The young girl had spotted them mildly sitting on the grass and introduced herself to the two girls, having met Carl once before. As she began saying the words: "Hi, I'm Ruby!" she had noticed the infant Sophia was holding. Thus her gushing began.

"Oooooh, look at his chubby wittle cheeks! And his silky wilky hair! And his itty bitty baby hands!" Hershel made a gurgling sound as he buried his face in Sophia's shirt. That elicited a squeal that only dog's could hear.

"So, you know this girl, Carl?" Lydia leaned over to whisper into his ear. Not that Ruby would have heard her while she was busy exciting over Hershel.

"I met her once," Carl answered. Even he was a bit shocked when Ruby had come to greet them. Given he wasn't the most social of teens, but it did seem a bit strange. Not to say he didn't think she was nice, no-just, a bit weird perhaps. Actually, she sort of reminded him of a citizen of Alexandria: Anna.

Anna was a girl around his age and a bit awkward. She was shy for sure but still meant well despite that. The only weird thing Anna had ever done was show him as well as a few other boys her chest because she had felt insecure about herself. Not to say he thought Ruby would do something like that, but it had been in the form of the imprisoned Negan who had told him that sometimes girls acted weird for their age and to not hold choices like that against them. Ruby was probably just as any other teenager at her core.

"She seemed nice," Carl added noticing the look of skepticism written as plain as day all over his girlfriends face.

"What's his name?!" a very excited Ruby asked a very surprised Sophia.

"Uh," Sophia was defiantly more than a little weirded out.

"Sophia."

"That's a boy's name?" Ruby asked tilting her head a bit, clearly confused.

"That would be Hershel," Maggie said walking up to them, followed by Rick and Andrea. "My son."

"Oh! He's your kid," Ruby said as Sophia handed Hershel over to Maggie. "That makes sense. He kinda looks like you actually."

"He has my cheekbones no question about it," Maggie admitted. "But I don't think we've met before."

"She's the one who helped me with this," Rick supplied, patting the hatchet that hung from his waist. Ruby waved somewhat shyly towards Rick.

"Hi, Mr. Grimes," she greeted. Ruby noticed Andrea as well. "And hello Miss. uh, person I don't really know. Sorry."

"Andrea," she introduced. "Sniping expert." Carl noticed the sudden change in shyness to that of joy at her field of profession. Maybe Ruby had an interest in guns of something.

"Really?! That's so cool! What kind of gun do you like best? I know you just said sniper, but what kind? There's a ton to choose from." She pulled out a condensed red object. "I mean I went with a high impact one when I built my scythe, but I considered the standard at one point but I was just like nah."

Looks like his assumption was spot on.

* * *

"You do understand what this means, do you not?" the sound of gears grinding against one another had filled the silence of the room before the question Ozpin had asked. Negan sat across from him watching the gears turn above.

"Yeah, yeah," Negan waved almost dismissively. He didn't mean that in a sarcastic or downcast way, on the contrary actually. He was excited for what this meant. But curious more than anything else. "I understand as clear as day."

"You do?" Ozpin asked, eyeing him from behind his glasses. "Then you wouldn't mind running it by me, would you?"

Suppressing an eye roll, Negan sat up straight in his chair. "Because you need my fucking help with something, that's what. You got a report about some Grimm terrorizing a village, you ask me to go take care of it. Simple as a nipple."

"But do you understand why I have only asked you for this?" Ozpin further inquired about him.

"Because I have a massive wrecking ball sized dick that can take out an entire horde with one fucking swing?" Negan mockingly guessed. "Or maybe because you heard from the girl with the bunny ears that I'm a certified badass."

"Valiant answers," he could tell he didn't mean it, "but alas, no. Trust is the driving factor."

"Trust?" Negan parroted.

"More for our sake than for yours I assure you," Ozpin told him. "As I said before I believe in second chances. A solo mission could prove that you are on the side you claim."

"Or I could use that as an opportunity to jump the gun and get the fuck out of dodge," Negan countered.

"Would you?" Ozpin asked as calm as ever.

"Fuck no," Negan answered.

"Then this will be your chance to prove it wouldn't it?" Ozpin rhetorically asked. "And I believe you remember the terms we set if you ever tried something like that?"

"You'd have someone hunt me down and bring me in for not playing nice," Negan lazily summarized. "I fucking remember the conditions."

"I'm relieved to hear that," Ozpin said not really sounding too relieved. "Now, the village in question is named Croftshire." _Sounds fucking lame,_ Negan thought. "It's about a day's flight to the Southwest of Vale. The defenses there have reportedly been failing and the mayor has asked for help."

"And that's where I come in flying in like a superhero using my dick like a helicopter blade."

"If you're not going to take this seriously, I could always ask someone else to take on this assignment," Ozpin let the implication sit.

Negan raised his hands to show he was easing up. "Just joking. Fucking relax."

"Good to hear. A ship will be waiting to take you to your destination first thing tomorrow. I advise not being late."

"Like fuck I would be," Negan said stretching his legs out. "Guy like me has to keep moving otherwise things get fucking boring."

Nodding, Ozpin had one final note to add. "And you will remember to keep in contact with either myself or Mr. Grimes in case anything goes wrong?"

"Hey," Negan said in a mock hurt tone. "I'm a motherfucking professional. I'm not allowed to fuck up."

* * *

Three days later

Cold dirty hands reaching out towards him. Skin, tendon, even bone, hung loose as they grabbed him, pulling him closer to their awaiting maws. God the moans were unbearable, they were everywhere. No matter which direction he looked, they were there. The undead; and they were all swarming over Rick.

The former sheriff hacked away with his hatchet, severing limbs and heads alike that could rival even Michonne's skill with her katana. Hack, slash, hack and slash; rinse repeat. There was no method to his killing, just that: killing.

With his brace and robotic hand he was fighting better than he ever did before. His metal fist would collide with their mouths and shatter their jaws completely. Those that fell to the ground had their heads stomped in completely. It was slaughter.

"Dad!" the voice of Carl yelled over the mass of surrounding walkers.

"Rick!" Andrea shouted as well. Both she and Carl were being backed up into a corner; the horde surrounding them.

"Hold on!" he cried out to his family as he hacked down a few more walkers. "I'm coming!" but he wasn't. As soon as he took a step towards them, his leg gave out, a searing pain shooting through it. " _Ngh!_ " he hissed in pain. He tried to push himself up, but his right hand was gone; his arm ended at a stump once more.

"Rick!" they shouted out to him as his he watched the two people he cared about most have their organs ripped from their bodies to be feasted upon.

"No…" Rick didn't even try to rise as he felt teeth sink into his own neck. The warm feeling of blood running down his body numbed every nerve.

"Gah!" Rick exclaimed as his eyes shot open in the dark room. His chest rose and fell as he recalled the nightmare. He looked to his side to see Andrea still asleep. He reached over and moved a strand of hair from her face. Yup, she was real. And seeing both of their clothes scattered all over the room, so too had been what they had done a few hours prior.

It was just a nightmare that's all it was. A nightmare. Rick laid his head back down on his pillow and closed his eyes, ready to drift back off into sleep. _BzzzBzzz!_ The sound of his scroll vibrating forced him to open his eyes again. One of the things he had gotten with his new position was the futuristic equivalent to a cell phone. He picked it up off his nightstand to answer. "Hello?" he said in a very tired tone.

" _H-hey, Rick!"_ the voice of Negan spoke from the other end. Great. _"It's not a bad time to be calling is it?"_

"It's three in the morning," Rick sardonically replied. "What is it?"

" _Just relieved you picked up right now to tell the truth,"_ Negan said actually sounding a bit nervous. Even in his sleepy state Rick picked up on that. And Negan wasn't even using any profound language; yet.

"What is it?" Rick asked again, more awake than before.

" _Listen, you know that solo mission I got assigned to, I mean of course you do. You're a very important man at that school aren't you? Well listen…"_

Elsewhere

A very disheveled Negan swallowed a large lump in his throat as he held his scroll close to his mouth. The sound of a gun being cocked sounded from behind him, and he knew it was aimed at his head. "I fucked up."

* * *

A/N: This was bit of a slower chapter, but the next one will focus on how Negan got into the situation he is in now. If you have any theories, let me know. And thank you for reading.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Walking Dead is owned by Robert Kirkman and Image Comics. And RWBY is owned and property of Rooster Teeth. I own nothing.**

* * *

Three days earlier.

"So, not much of a talker?" The pilot asked him as they flew to his drop off point. In a very unusual fashion, Negan had remained silent for a majority of the flight. It wasn't necessarily out of boredom, although that did play a role, it was more he found he didn't really want to. It was just him and some pilot whose name he didn't know or even bother to learn that is.

"It's cool if you're not," the pilot continued after receiving no response from him. "Last team I flew out wasn't really the talkative type either." Did this guy always have that squeaky of a voice? Did he swallow a a chew toy or something as a kid? "Y'know I've actually been to where I'm droping you off. Nice place, kind people, but not the best defense. It must be-,"

"You know, I do feel like talking," Negan interrupted just to get the guy to shut up.

The pilot smiled. "That's the spirit! I knew you'd come around. What's on our mind?"

"Nothing much," Negan said shrugging. "Just wanted to ask: how is your sex life?" as expected, the pilot kept his mouth shut for the rest of the trip. Thank fuck he didn't have to listen to that annoying ass voice.

After about an hour or so of more flying the pilot spoke once more. "Alright, we're almost there. Probably only about fifteen minutes or so."

"That right?" Negan asked. "Let me off here then."

The pilot turned to look at him like he was crazy. "Here?" he parroted. "But it's the middle of the woods! And there's only one path from here that leads to the village."

"Well then I'll have to stick to the path now, won't I?" Negan sarcastically asked. "Now do you need me to repeat myself, or are you going to fucking let me off?" The pilot had to find a clearing large enough to set the aircraft down and as soon as he did Negan wasted no time in hoping off. "Thanks for the lift," he called over his shoulder in a semi-sarcastic tone. "Try to improve that sex life when I'm away." He didn't see the man's face as he turned around but he guessed it was somewhere between shock and embarrassment. But at least Negan was on his own now.

Heh, that was how it had been for him for awhile during the shitty apocalypse, back before Dwight had found him and taken him back to what would later become a part of The Saviors. He was no novice when it came to making it on his own. Near everyone who he had come across on his travels and been close to had died. And he still carried on. Maybe a companion would have been a welcome addition, but he wasn't a fucking idiot. He knew more than one of those from his world would likely shoot him in the back and claim a Grimm killed him. He wouldn't put that shit past Dwight the scar faced fuck.

But, he didn't have to worry about that. He was alone with his thoughts as he trekked his way along the path that would lead him to this "Croftshire." A fucking stupid name for a town if you asked him, but no one did; so fuck it. He slung his bat over his shoulder. It was heavier than Lucille was, less likely to break if he had to kick some ass. He never thanked that red hooded girl did he? What was her name? Rose? Rosie Rose? Ruby Slippers? Red Rose? Ah, fuck it. No point in trying to remember now. Right now, just got to get to the fucking town with the stupid fucking name.

He started to whistle a little just to pass the time. The tune was one he made up off the top of his head, or it was something he had heard some time ago and just forgotten until now. It wasn't necessarily a cheery tune, there were enough of those as it was and he wasn't about to add to that with his created one.

 _Krik._

His weapon was in both of his hands not a second after hearing the noise. Four years of living where the dead tried to feast on your flesh and his fight with the Grimm made no room for mistake when hearing an unknown noise. Assuming a batter's stance, Negan readied himself for whatever came. And if it meant harm he would fuck it up worse than it would him. More rustling came from the shrubbery.

It was people, two to be exact. Both male although one was much taller than the boy with him, and both looked to be holding fishing rods in their hands. The boy pointed towards something that Negan could not see, and the adult smiled down at him and ruffled the boy's hair. With a wide smile on his face, the boy happily ran off to whatever the fuck it was he had spotted. Out of all the things to get trigger finger over, it was just a father and son going on a fishing trip.

"* _sigh_ *" Negan rested his bat on his shoulder once more. "Welp," he said to himself, "guess it was fucking nothi-,"

" _AAAGGGGGHHHH!_ "

A scream rang out somewhere on the path ahead of him. Negan heaved another sigh. "I spoke too fucking soon." Negan took off as fast as his legs would carry him towards the sound of the scream. It better not be some jackasses playing a prank on a piss scared little kid. If it was then he was going to be pissed. Two false alarms in a row; that shit was so not cool.

His boots hammered against the ground as Negan continued to run. He thought this town was supposed to be quiet most of the time, and yet here he was barely twenty minutes into his travel and already he was running towards a conflict. He was getting paid for this right? "HELP!" another scream rang out throughout the forest. It sounded like a woman. Another sound was heard the closer he got; this one being a low and guttural growling. He had heard it once before.

Lying there in the middle of the forest path with a basket of fruit discarded to the side was a woman with an extremely spiky Beowolf leering above her. The Grimm's jowls salivating as it snapped its jaws inches away from her face.

Metallic grinding joined in the air along the woman's screams and the Beowolf's growls as the rotating barbed wire struck the Grimm on the side of its face. The wolfish monster wasn't knocked back far, just enough so it wasn't hovering over the woman any longer. "Hey, bony fuck." Negan addressed the spiked Grimm. "I hate to have interrupted that moment you two were having, but I really want to fuck you up right now. That cool?"

The Grimm howled in response and made a mad leap towards him. Negan barely had time to step to the side to avoid being skewered on one of the many bones that lined the arms of the beast. It leapt again, and Negan found himself ducking to keep his head on his shoulders. _Fuck, this thing is fast!_ He thought.

Latching itself onto one of the surrounding trees, the Grimm used that as a spring board of sorts to kick off towards Negan with such force that it nearly cracked the tree in half. It shot forward like a giant black bullet; claws extended, teeth barred, and eyes full of burning hatred. "Fuck." Negan jumped the side not a minute too soon as the Beowolf impacted where he once stood creating a small dust cloud from where it landed.

" _AAHHHH!_ " the woman cried once again. As the dust cleared Negan caught sight of the Grimm going straight for the easier target out of the both of them. The woman could do very little except to throw fallen fruit at the beast. Wasting no time, Negan once again ran to put himself between the woman and the Grimm. He swung his weapon, but it only bounced harmlessly off of its spikes. The Beowolf was much more successful with its swing however.

This time Negan wasn't fast enough to jump back from the attack, and its claws cut through his white undershirt and leaving the white material stained with red as he began to bleed. "Agh!" Negan hissed, feeling the full sting of the wound. He glared at the Grimm, who he swore seemed to smirk evilly at seeing him hurt.

"N-no," the woman choked at seeing him stagger a bit. The cut might not have been that deep, but it sure stung like a motherfuck! The Beowolf raised its claws, which were stained red with Negan's blood and licked the liquid off. If anything the evil smirk only seemed to grow larger.

"Fuck. You." Negan coldly said to the Grimm. "What are you? A fucking vampire? You got one lucky hit in Bigby, I dare you, no, I triple dog dare you to try that shit one more goddamn time!" His bat transfigured itself into gun mode. A glance to the terrified woman only served as fuel to his growing anger towards this Grimm. The pain he had been feeling from when he had got cut felt as if it were actually receding as he stared the Grimm down. "So bring it on you fuck, I'll show you first hand just how fucked you really are!"

The Grimm snarled at him as it crouched low; ready to pounce once again. Then, something strange happened. The Beowolf seemed to-gag. A series of retched choking noises arose from its throat as it stuck its tongue out and appeared to wipe it on the grassy ground. Negan found himself dumbfounded at the sight befallen him. "What in the fuck?"

A glance up saw the human and Grimm locking sights once more. Negan glared down, and the Grimm appeared to glare back with as much hatred, but it seemed to be backing away from him. It was making its way back into the woods, still coughing and spitting. At an almost sluggish pace, the Grimm retreated.

"Hey!" Negan shouted at the retreating form of the Beowolf. "I thought you were supposed to be a wolf, not a pussy!" He received no answer as the Grimm continued to skulk away further into the woods. " _Pfft,_ fucker."

"Ah, u-um." He looked to see the woman standing before him. She was on the shorter side, but a lot of people were on the short side compared to him, with shoulder length blonde hair, as well as a pair of vibrant green eyes. But her most notable feature was the feline like ears that came up from her head. She had to be one of those…fuck what were they called? Faunus, right? "Are you alright sir?" she asked sounding genially concerned.

"Right as fucking rain," Negan replied shouldering his weapon once more. "And I don' mean this as a question against your intelligence, but shouldn't I be asking _you_ that question?"

"Oh! Of course, I'm fine. Well-now I'm fine," she assured him. "I asked because I saw you get scratched. But from the look of things I'd say your aura is already helping in that regard."

"Aura?" Negan parroted. "What the fuck are you talking abo-?" he looked down to see the wound inflicted on him by the Beowolf was seemingly closing faster than usual. And to add further confusion he saw his body emanating a faint black infused with burgundy glow. His eyes widened as the light flickered for a second longer before flickering out as if it had never been there.

The Faunus woman looked at him in an odd manner. "Yes, your aura. It activated when you got hurt. Right?" So that's how it happened? It just came up on its own? He wasn't complaining by any means, it was really helping to take away some of this pain, but damn was it a freaky first experience.

Negan flashed a cocky grin to make it seem like he knew about it all along. "Correct-a-mundo! You are one smart cookie Miss…"

"Oh, right! Melody, Melody Summers." The Faunus woman introduced. "And thank you again for saving me mister…"

"Negan."

"No last name?" She asked tilting her head slightly.

He chuckled. "When you're as awesome as me, one name is all you fucking need for someone to know who you are."

She looked contemplative. "Well, I suppose it is a rather unique name. You must not be from around here then."

"Oh you have no idea," he said knowingly. "You wouldn't happen to live in a town known as Croftshire would you?"

"I do," she answered. "Why? Are you headed there?"

"Depends. Are you heading that way?"

"It would make sense considering I live there," Melody told him. She picked up her fallen fruit basket from where it had fallen. "I could walk back with you, if you want?"

"And my charm holds out!" Negan said, not so much a joke as it could have been. "How big of an idiot would I be if I turned down an offer from a lady as lovely as you?" he swore he saw a faint tint of red appear on her cheeks.

"Alright," she said. "Best to get a move on then. It isn't safe to stay out for too long." For some strange reason he got the impression she wasn't just referring to the Grimm.

* * *

As they walked more and more sunlight began to poke through the branches in the trees overhead. With the added light Negan took another look down at his abdomen where he had gotten scratched. His shirt was stained red around the area now, no doubt about that. But as he moved a hand up to inspect for himself he felt that the wound was still a bit wet. Looks like that fucking aura can't just heal everything.

"So I got a question for you," Negan said as they continued to walk. "I mean I totally know the fucking answer already, but I want to see if you do. Just how in the fuck does this aura get activated? I mean it seems like a pretty fucking useful thing."

"Well it can be activated in a few different ways," Melody began. "It can activate at a certain age, or it can be unknowingly activated in a desperate time." Looks like he was going with numero dos. "And in some cases, another person can activate it for another if they need it."

"And we have a winner!" Negan said, keeping up the ruse of he actually knew what the fuck was going on. "Come on up and pick your prize!" he had no idea if what she said was right or not. But he had no other way to confirm or deny it, so what the fuck right?

Melody gave him a curious glance. Heh. Curious. Cat person. "You are a strangely profound man aren't you?"

"People secretly love it," he said with confidence. "But I have another question for you, and this time I sure as fuck don't know the answer. Just what the fuck were you doing out in the woods by yourself anyways?"

She reached into her basket and pullet out an apple. "This," she said handing him the apple.

Negan turned the apple around in his hand examining it from every angle. "You almost got killed over a fucking apple? That's a pretty shit reason to die."

"Not just any apple," she corrected in a matter-of-fact tone. "This is an Evie Apple."

"So?"

"So, they only grow in this area and are extremely rare. This time a year is when they are at their ripest. I was gathering some to bake into a pie. My daughter loves them."

"No shit," Negan said. "I used to work with kids. How old?"

"Eight as of last week," she said with a warm smile. _Damn._ Negan thought to himself as he looked at her. _MILF if there ever was one._ Sure she had a pair of cat ears, which admittedly was kinda fucking weird, but aside from that she was a damn attractive woman. Golden hair, vibrant eyes, warm smile. Her husband was one lucky son of a bitch. "I can fix that for you, you know?" she pointed to his torn shirt. "Once we get to the town, I have a sewing kit back at my house."

"My lord, are you people really this generous?" he saw he was getting a bewildered look from the Faunus woman. "I don't mean _you_ people, like you know animal ears or whatever, I mean like people from around here."

"I know what you meant," she told him. "If you were a racist you probably would have left me to get eaten. And to answer your question, for the most part we are. Croftshire is a small town. We look out for one another." He hmmed in response. Rick would probably be mayor of this place then if he were here.

* * *

When they did at last reach the town of Croftshire, Negan found himself experiencing something close to vertigo. At first glance it looked like an almost English village, the one's he would see pictures of in travel magazines or something. It looked like most of the houses were constructed out of wood and stone and each was about two stories tall or so. As far as defense went, there was a stone wall that circled the perimeter of the town. Granted it was only about fifteen feet high.

"Home sweet home," Melody said taking in the sight of the town. "So, what're your first impressions?"

"This town makes an income selling greeting cards or something?" Negan asked getting a picturesque vibe from the layout alone.

She laughed. "No, we're not that well known. We wouldn't want a bunch of tourists to flood this place and steal our apples would we? Now come on. Let's go get you patched up."

Small crowds of people hustled and bustled along the cobblestone street as the two of them maneuvered their way past street vendors selling a variety of fruits, vegetables, as well as some homemade goods like rugs and decorations. They really were pushing for that small town value theme weren't they? The both of them continued to navigate through the groups of people until Melody was able to drag him along a side street to where a wood and stone home stood. If Negan had to guess he would assume that this was her house. "Please, come in." Melody insisted as she unlocked the door and let him in.

The living room consisted of two loveseats, a coffee table, and a tall lamp. A small isle marked the entrance to the kitchen/dining area which was very clean. Three doors were adjacent to the hallway on the right. "It's not much," Melody said as she beckoned him over to the kitchen table to sit down. "But its home."

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "You got a nice cozy feeling going one here. Pretty fucking nice." He felt a slap on the back of his head. "What the fuck was that for?"

"My daughter is home and these walls are thin," Melody said, rather sternly. "I'd rather she not heard that sort of language."

"Geeze Louise, tooooouchy." Negan rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll try to tone it down, but it won't be easy. I got a broken filter in my head that all sorts of fucked shit just flows through." She narrowed her eyes at him. "See. Like that."

She in turn rolled her eyes at him. She turned on the sink and ran a washcloth under the pouring water. "Take off your jacket and shirt," she instructed.

"My-my, you're certainly forward." Negan teased. "And you haven't even bought me dinner yet."

"It's so I can clean your wound," Melody clarified quickly flushing scarlet. "I can't very well do that if your clothes are in the way."

"Whatever you say," Negan said hanging his jacket from the back of one of the chairs and just letting his ripped shirt fall to the floor. Melody reached into one of the cupboards and pulled out what looked like ointment. She squeezed some onto the washcloth and pressed it onto his wound. He instinctively bit down on his lip to keep from crying out. That shit stung like a motherfuck!

"Oh, I forgot to mention it might sting a little," Melody said, not sounding all too sorry.

To take his mind off that fucking stinging sensation, Negan started up a conversation. "So," he began, "you mentioned your kid's home. So where's daddy?" Melody continued to tend to his wound. "I won't have to worry about him coming home soon and seeing you with a shirtless stranger in the kitchen, will I?"

"Oh, no," Melody answered. "He's out at the market picking up some eggs and milk. And seeing that he's been there picking up those two items for nearly four years, I doubt you have much to worry about."

An extremely uncomfortable silence befell the two occupants in the kitchen. "Oh," was all Negan could say. "Well that's-,"

"Don't," she cut him off. "I've dealt with people saying the "I'm sorry" phrase too much. It hasn't been easy, but I manage. The job at the inn pays enough to keep me on my feet, and that's all I need."

"You must be resourceful then." Negan assumed.

"That's just a skill you get growing up in Vacuo," Melody said picking up his shirt and pulling out a sewing kit from another cupboard. "Although Vale isn't without its fair share of experiences too."

The sound of a door being creaked open was heard and from the hall and out walked a little girl who was basically a carbon copy of her mother. Save for the eyes. Hers were more of turquoise green. "Mama, you're back!"

Melody smiled fondly as she embraced the child. "Hello Sophie." The girl-Sophie looked past her mother's embrace and towards Negan.

"Mama, that man isn't wearing a shirt."

"I know he's not," Melody said. "He got it cut helping me earlier today."

"You did?!" the girl asked Negan, her voice full of amazement. "Was it Grimm? I bet it was Grimm! It was Grimm, wasn't it?!"

"You'll have to forgive her," Melody apologized on behalf of her daughter. "She has a tendency to ask questions and say what's on her mind."

"Hey, I get it." Negan told her. "I say what's on my mind all the fu-," he caught sight of her sudden glare, especially now that there was a child present. "All the freaking time." Man that was hard to say.

Now the three of them sat in the kitchen in a somewhat uncomfortable silence. Somewhat being the key word considering Negan had been in silences far more uncomfortable than being shirtless in a kitchen with a mother and daughter. The silence was broken with Sophie telling Negan: "You look like a comic book character."

Negan looked down at the girl. "Well you look like an anime character." When he had first heard the word the name Anna May had come to mind. It was the name of a girl he had dated and fucked in his time in high school.

Sophie tilted her head. "Does that mean I'm cute?" she asked.

"You have big eyes and a heart shaped face," Negan told her, familiar with the art style used in those shows. "If you don't grow up to be a knockout, then I'm Mickey Mouse."

"Are you a Faunus too?" Sophie asked, picking up on the word mouse.

"Sophie, please." Melody lightly chided her daughter while stitching up Negan's shirt. "He's our guest. Ease up on the personal questions."

"Sorry mama," Sophie meekly apologized.

"That's alright," Melody told her daughter. "Hey! I just remembered, check in my basket Sophie. I think it'll make you happy."

Doing as instructed the young girl let out a yell of delight as she pulled out one of the apples from within." Yay! Does this mean apple pie?!"

"Hmmm," Melody contemplated. "Yes."

"It's going to be so gooood!" Sophie cheered. "It felt like forever since we last made it."

"Boy you weren't freaking kidding when you said she liked those apples," Negan observed the girls delight. "Must be the freaking bee's knees."

"Uh-huh," Sophie nodded excitedly. "Especially the way mama makes it. Do you think we can give some to him too mama?"

"Well I guess he'll have to ask nicely for it won't he?" Melody said.

"Uh, sure. May I please have a slice of that delicious-super-ultra rare-creamy-dreamy-over-the-moon-star-spangled-banner-spank-my-buttocks-and-call-me-Shirley apple pie? When you make it that is."

"Will you still be in town tomorrow?" Melody asked. "It'll be ready by then, but if you're just passing through…"

"I sure as shoot will be," Negan answered. "I don't think I told you, but you're looking at a mothertrucking Huntsman. Here on business after all."

"So you're the one they sent to deal with the bandits!" Melody stated.

Negan raised a brow. "Bandits. I was told it were Grimm. Is someone screwing with me?"

"Don't get me wrong, Grimm are always a threat but it's the bandit raids that usually draw them in." explained Melody. "They come at random and snatch up anyone they can get their hands on. I don't know what happens to them. Maybe it's best that I don't."

"Bandits huh?" Negan contemplated this change in development. Well that was going to-

" _Help!_ " a man's voice yelled from outside. "Someone please! Hurry! Get a doctor!" Negan grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair and rushed outside to see what all the commotion was about. He was faintly aware of Melody following him, instructing her daughter to stay inside the house.

The small crowds of people near the market center had more or less all gathered on a distraught looking man holding a boy in his arms. The boy wore a face of pure discomfort. His teeth clenched and eyes squinted closed. It took Negan a moment, but he recognized the man and child from before. Yes, they were the ones he first spotted that looked like they were going on a fishing trip of some kinds.

"I need a doctor!" the father yelled once more. "Please! My son-! He- there was this Beowolf-," that caught Negan's attention. "It came out of nowhere… bit my boy right on his leg." The boy's leg had a very large and jagged bite mark on it that released small spurts of blood. "Please! Help!"

"Move aside everyone!" another voice cut through the crowd. An older man wearing a white outfit parted his way among the people who had come to see all the commotion. "Sir, if you would please bring your son to my clinic, I can patch him up there. But it must be done quick. It looks like he has lost a lot of blood." The father followed after with much haste. Negan's eyes never left the sight of the boy's limp form. A sense of foreboding overcoming him.

* * *

A/N: So Negan is the first to discover aura. Any ideas on what his and the others semblances could be? And this chapter is the first in my divergence away from the canon storyline, next chapter will show he more brutal side that Negan has as well as how he got into the situation last chapter. Thank you for reading.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: The Walking Dead is owned by Robert Kirkman and Image Comics and RWBY is owned and property of Rooster Teeth. I own nothing.**

 **A/N: Just wanted to say, if you have any suggestions for semblances for The Walking Dead characters let me know. I could use some ideas.**

* * *

The bed was comfortable. Not too soft, not too hard, Christ he felt like Goldilocks. Melody had given him a room in the inn that she worked as thanks for what he had done. It was a kind gesture on her end, a rare occurrence for sure considering most people he knew were assholes, but he wasn't about to pass it up. Negan rearranged the pillows and propped his head on the soft fabric. Come morning he would be meeting with the mayor of this town, and the man better not be a pushover like Gregory had been. Dealing with people who had an inner fire was always more fun.

It still baffled Negan that he was here. That Ozpin guy knew full well the things he was capable of doing, and yet he still sent him off on a solo mission in the grand hopes that it would show he could "be trusted over time."

It's not like he was going to betray Rick and those others. What exactly would he have to gain from betraying them anyways? A sense of vengeance fulfilled? To satisfy bloodlust? For shits and giggles? The only thing he would get for betrayal would be a large death flag for his head for the price of betrayal, and judging from the crazy fucking weapons these people have, his death could get creative and painful.

Huh?

Was using the word "betray" wrong in that sense? After all only someone you consider to be a friend betrays you; and as Rick had said, his bar for friendship was just too low. Funny how he said that after Negan had saved his ass.

Negan ran a hand down his face. Why the fuck was he even thinking about stupid shit like that anyway? Well, apart from this world being a fresh start that is. No one knew him here. He wasn't the leader of the biggest badest most hard as fuck gang: The Saviors; here he was just some schmuck. Well, an extremely attractive schmuck with an above average sex drives. Hell he could probably have a semi-normal life here. Like he had once had with-

"Fuck." Negan lifted his shirt to see the scratch from before basically gone, but still flaring up in some unexpected pain. It would join along the scar on his right side from when he had killed his first human. What even was that pricks name? Alex Davidson*, or something like that? Ah, fuck it, he was just some dead asshole now. He deserved what he got.

Enough thinking about the past, what about that sweet fucking aura shit? Negan examined his hand. How the fuck does he get it to flare up without getting hurt? He waved his hand in front of his face.

"Aura activate." Nothing. "Turn on." Nothing. "Abra Kedabra. Shazam. Wax on wax off. Go go aura go. Fuck you aura." Negan moved to sit up, and some pain flashed from his fading wound once again. This time the pain receded much faster as Negan caught sight of that burgundy and black glow. Yeah, this was going to take some getting used to.

* * *

"… _look at you. What were you doing out there? Were you waiting?"_

"… _It's no one's fault, you know? I'm…I'm sorry too…"_

"… _I don't expect you to understand…just…try to deal with it…"_

"… _It'd be cliché. I'm not going to say it. I'm going to show you instead…"_

 _Knock-Knock!_

He felt rays of sunlight peeking through the window shades and he began to stir from his slumber. "Hey, are you awake?" Melody opened the door to his rented room. Negan rubbed some sleep from his eyes.

"I am now." He stretched as he got out of the bed. "Bit of a redundant considering I'm able to fucking answer."

She didn't look impressed. "Right. Did you at least have a good sleep?"

"Slept like a fucking log," he answered. It was truthful for the most part. "Although…it got pretty lonely here. It would have been much better with a lovely lady to keep me company. And from what I've seen this place has got no short supply." He winked at her. It really was fun to watch her get all flustered all of a sudden.

"W-well you should be heading over to town hall then," she quickly changed topics. "Oh. And here." She tossed him his now repaired shirt. "Try not to ruin it anytime soon."

Town Hall was by far the largest building in the town, although that wasn't saying too much. The houses were only about two stories tall. _Might as well meet the head honcho,_ Negan mused as he casually strode into the hall. No matter what type of person it was Negan planned to exelarite confidence and charisma, the two positive traits he held an abundance of.

"Can I help you?" the secretary asked as she saw him walk in.

Goddamn it! Seriously?! Was every single woman here attractive as fuck?

"In more ways than one," he answered. "But sadly I'm just here to meet with your boss."

"Oh, you must be the one they sent. Sure. His office is right upstairs and to the right. Do you want me to show you?"

"Nice of you to offer, but, and I swear this is the only time I'll pass up an offer to spend time with a woman as drop dead gorgeous as yourself, I'll manage on my own." As he climbed the steps he knew the mental image he would be picturing tonight: that secretary and Melody going to town on each other. God, he could see the scene playing out in his head now. And who knows, if one of them were agreeable to it he wouldn't need his hand to keep him company during the night. Maybe have a pleasant dream once in a while.

He got the top floor and spotted his destination; the door to the office was slightly ajar. As he got closer he heard two men conversing inside. "…Doctor is holding him overnight, but he says he hasn't seen anything like it."

"Now, now I understand that you're concerned. What parent wouldn't be? But rest assured, the beast that harmed your boy will be dealt with. I've taken measures as to see it done and done right."

"Thank you, Mayor Vaughn." Sensing that particular meeting coming to an end, Negan chose to make his entrance.

"Knock-knock! Anybody home?"

The two men looked to see him enter. Negan recognized the first man easily enough. He had seen him twice the other day. It was the man whose son had been attacked, the one who had been wandering around the woods. The second was a new face however. He was on the shorter side, with a bit of a pompadour style haircut, which the color was starting to gray. He had bit of a pot belly going on indicating he was living relatively easy. He was clearly the mayor.

"…Can I help you sir?" the mayor asked not looking too enthused that Negan had more or less had just barged in.

"I think I should be asking you that question. You did call after all."

The father looked to the mayor. "He's the huntsman they sent? The one who will bring justice for what happened to my son?"

"As I said mister Greenfield, I've taken measures." The mayor replied sounding a little too proud of himself. "Now, you wouldn't mind giving us two a little privacy now, would you mister Greenfield?"

"No, of course not."

The mayor, Vaughn, closed the door as the other man left the office. "I trust you saw the commotion in the street yesterday?"

"Yeah, he's the dad of the kid who got fucked up something fierce, right?" Negan already knew the answer, he just wanted to see how the mayor would respond.

"You are correct on that account," Vaughn said. "Nasty business. Just nasty."

Negan half nodded. "So, that what you need me to do? Track down the sick beast and put it out of its fucking misery?" he smiled. "Cus' I'll do it. It would be good to repay the fucker for scratching me."

Vaughn shook his head. "Oh, no. no need to trouble yourself over just one Grimm. From what mister Greenfield told me the Grimm looked sick, if you can believe it."

"Sick?"

"Mmm, yes. It was coughing like it was gagging, he said. Moving very sluggish and such. It caught them by surprise though, hardly made chase after them after he had gotten his boy away from it."

"…" Negan had no comment for that. It sounded an awful lot like… "So where is the little tyke anyway? He holding out like a trooper?"

"At the doctor's clinic," Vaughn disclosed. "Going through an ordeal like that, well… he's not in the best of states right now."

"All the more reason for me to hunt the fucker down right?" Negan asked.

"As I said, no need to trouble yourself over just one Grimm," Vaughn sounded a little annoyed repeating himself. "If you want to please the boy's father just bring back the head of any ordinary Beowolf. We have much bigger problems at hand."

"Oh?" Negan slightly tilted his head. "And what in the fuck may that be? I'm curious as all hell."

"Well… I'm not sure if anyone's told you this or not, but we've had some, uh well, bandit trouble." Vaughn reluctantly admitted. "Complete brutes really, they come at night usually twice a month to raid our friendly little town."

"They show up and ask for you to give up half your shit?" Negan guessed. It's what he would do after all. If there was a source of income that you could benefit from, easiest solution would to have them bend over backwards for you. Killing them would cut off that income after all. Best to let them know who the boss was.

"They do take any valuables they can get their hands on, of course. But they have also been confirmed to steal a few citizens as well."

"Like hostages? That way they got leverage in case you just try to bring them down."

Vaughn looked uncomfortable. "That's what we assume. Truth be told, no one really knows what happens to the ones who get taken. They could be forced to work in a Dust mine as slave labor, but I have no real answer to that."

Was this mayor fucking serious? Negan stepped toward the mayor. "You're telling me, you run this town, and yet you have no fucking idea what happens to your people? So are you full of shit, or just too much of a coward to take any real responsibility?" Negan was a good head and a half taller than Vaughn, and the height difference was made quite clear as he stared him down.

"W-what do you… h-how dare you say such a thing!" Vaughn withered under the look he was receiving.

"You're right," Negan said with sarcasm. "It wasn't my place to say. I know! Why don't I consult my crystal balls and have them tell me what to do next?" Much to Vaughn's disgust, Negan fondled his balls from outside his pants. "Let's see… ah! Here they are! Uh-hmm, yeah, yeah I see. Well, the musings of the future have told me to ask you what exactly you want me doing if you don't want me killing a Grimm, and since you don't know jack shit about those bandits, you best make a pretty convincing sales pitch, otherwise I'm just fucking leaving."

"…" Vaughn was silent for a minute and took a handkerchief to wipe some sweat off of his brow, clearly uncomfortable with Negan. "…Well, we do know one thing about the bandits."

* * *

Did it have to fucking rain?

Negan pondered that question as he observed the log cabin from behind a bush. Evidently the one thing Vaughn knew about the bandits was that they had a hideout a few miles out of the town. Apparently a citizen passing by saw some shady looking thugs ushering people out of a van and into the cabin. Next thing the mayor did was call in help, hence his current position.

 _Drip, drip._ Some water droplets landed on his head, making him run a hand through his hair. It had been such a nice day outside, what happened to the sun?

He caught sight of two male figures moving around the first floor of the cabin. Two guys and one of him. Eh, he's faced worse odds. He was probably bigger and stronger than those two anyways. What stopped him from moving in right away was caution. Caution because he now knew about aura. If these guys had it, he doubted their skulls would cave in with one hit, and they would tag team him instead.

But from what he also knew, aura could be turned on and off. Last night he had somehow gotten it to activate again to test it out. These guys looked content for now. No reason to expect any danger. If their aura wasn't activated he could stealth kill them. Maybe throw a witty one liner in as he did so. But how to get in?

The front door was out of the question. Maybe through the top floor. If he snuck around back he might find a way to climb up. Negan moved from behind the bush and headed towards the cabin; the sound of rain falling masking whatever noise his boots made in the mud. He hugged the side of the cabin as he moved around towards the back.

Peeking around the corner, Negan quickly withdrew his head as he caught glimpse of a man standing at the back door. Luckily the guy hadn't seen him. Slowly peeking again, Negan saw that the guy was facing away from him. He was holding something in his hand which was making a faint _click_ noise. He was trying to lite a smoke.

"C'mon, c'mon," the man grumbled. Actually, kid seemed a more accurate term judging by his voice. Okay, well maybe not kid. More like a young adult. Eighteen, nineteen? Negan slowly approached from behind. He stopped when he was only a foot or so away from the young man.

"Need a lite?" Negan casually asked.

"That'd be great man," the young man turned around to face him. His eyes widened. "You're not-" _Cr-snap!_ Negan had twisted the young man's neck. The body twitched a few times before going limp.

"Too bad. I don't have one either." He kneeled down to search the body. He had what looked like a basic firearm, a knife, and a set of keys. He took them all. Never knew when one of those could come in handy. With one guy on the outside taken care of, Negan quietly opened the back door to the cabin and moved inside.

The door creaked ever so slightly as he shut it behind him, but the two guys in the front room were talking about something or other and the noise went unnoticed. Time to deal with these guys. They didn't know he was here, so the element of surprise was on his side. With the gun he grabbed from the dead guy he could shoot and kill one guy, before giving the other the beating of his life. He wouldn't kill him, just make him talk so he could get any information about some of the other bandits not at this cabin, and what happened to the people who got nabbed.

Negan pulled the hammer of the stolen gun back. The room the two guys were in was just two doors away, excluding the stairs to his left which led to the basement. The two laughed about something or other. As he got closer he was able to hear their conversation better.

"So then what happened?"

"Well I said this: The White Fang are always getting screwed over by people right? So why not let them being the one's doing the screwing this time around?"

"And that idea actually flew? I mean they actually went with it?"

"Last batch was sent off to one of their camps in Vale. Suppose we got Torchwick to thank for that."

"Why? He smuggled them?"

"No, man. But everyone's so busy looking for all that stolen Dust, no one's bothering with the lesser known crime dealings. Especially ones in a small area like this one. I'm telling you, easy money."

"Dude, you're the smartest person I've ever-,"

 _Blam!_

Negan fired off a round into the one man's head, dropping him dead instantly.

"What the-?" the other began, only for Negan to charge at him, bat swinging and colliding with his midsection. The thug hunched over, no doubt clutching some broken ribs. Negan swung downwards and brought his bat down on the other man's back. _Whump!_

The thug collapsed onto the floor. Not moving.

"Don't tell me you passed out?" Negan asked, and received no answer. " _Tch._ Pussy." He bent down to grab the thug by his long dirty blonde hair. "I was hoping to make this beating last longer, but seeing as you passed out I might as well take you back to that town. Maybe have them erect a statue in my honor."

Dragging the man by the hair, Negan was ready to leave out the way he had come, but stopped when he heard a very faint, very weak: " _help."_ Come from somewhere down in the cellar. Leaving the unconscious man at the top of the stairs, Negan paused at the door at the base of the stairs. He shimmied the handle, but it wouldn't budge. He turned to the keys he had taken from the first guy. He tried a key of the keys and eventually found the one he was looking for. Very cautiously, Negan opened the door, his bat in one hand, and gun in the other.

What he saw almost made him drop both.

There were half a dozen beds in the basement. Each one had a woman handcuffed to it. They all looked to be human and not one of those Faunus people. Their clothing was disheveled, their skin pale and hair a mess.

"What in the fuck?" _no one knows what happens to the ones who are snatched._ This is what the bandits were selling them off for. _The White Fang is always getting screwed over by people right? So why not let them being the one's doing the screwing this time?_

One of the women reached out towards him. "… _please…help…_ " Negan hurried to the bed and shuffled through the keys to find the one to unlock her cuffs.

"Holy fucking shit." Negan had to steady the woman as she tried to stand. "Whoa, slow down. Your leg…"

"… _Have to get home…my baby…_ "

"Yeah, I'm taking you back to the town. All of you."

"…ughhh…" the groan came not from one of the women, but from the man lying at the top of the stairs.

"Wait here." Negan instructed as he marched up the stairs to the man who was coming back to his senses. _Wramm!_ Negan's boot collided with the man's chin as he tried to rise. Negan grabbed him once again by his hair.

 _Whammm!_

Negan slammed the man's face into the closest wall possible. "You motherfucker!" Negan growled as he slammed the man once again into the wall. "Think you're fucking tough?! Try doing what you were doing to those women on me! See what fucking happens fucktard!" He grabbed the man's head between both hands and brought his knee up _Krakk!_

"… _AGH! Stahp…!_ "

"Stop?!" Negan angrily repeated. "How many times did those women ask you to stop huh?!" Hegan pulled out the knife from the first guy. "Let's see how you like it!" he stabbed the knife into the man's crotch.

"AHHH!"

"Yeah. Fucking hurts doesn't it?" Negan pulled the knife out. "You know, if I hadn't found that basement I was going to let you live." He picked up his bat and gripped it with both hands. The metal felt like it weighed nothing, but also capable of doing massive damage. "Guessed you got screwed over big time."

 _Whack! Whkrack! Krarakk! Kraggh! Krakeegh! Splaugghh!  
_

* * *

An hour or so later saw Negan escorting the half dozen women back to Croftshire. It had taken some coaxing to get them out and moving, but they had all risen to their feet eventually. The rain was already dying down at that point, so at least they weren't completely drenched. Although, that was the least of the worries.

He led them in a beeline to where the doctor's clinic was. Each followed after the other in a sluggish fashion. Not even knocking on the door he led the women inside. "Hey doc, get your ass over here," Negan called to the doctor who was hovering over the bed of the boy from earlier. "Got some clients for you. So help them out and earn your fucking pay." As the doctor ushered them all to beds in the open ward, Negan grabbed a chair in the waiting area and sat down.

"Fuck." He closed his eyes.

If he could get some sleep, that would be fucking amazing.

Just sleep.

Sleep.

Sleep…

"AAGH!"

Oh what the fuck now?! his eyes shot open to see nurses running to where the scream had come from. "Hey nurse!" he shouted to one of the staff. "Mind telling me what the fuck is going on?!"

"Deranged patient!" she frantically replied. "He's bitten the doctor."

Bitten the doctor.

Bitten the doctor.

Bitten…

"Fuck. Me."

He ran to where the commotion was going on. He paid little to no attention as he shoved hospital staff aside. Sure enough, he spotted the source of the hubbub. A doctor was clutching his bleeding forearm as it gushed blood from where the boy had bitten him.

"Son! Son it's me!" the father pleaded with the corpse as he grasped its shoulders. "You need to stay still! The Doctor can help you!"

" _Raaghhh!_ " the little boy walker growled as he leaned to take a chunk out of his fathers neck.

Negan was faster; pulling out the knife from before he grabbed hold of the walker boy and drove the knife into his temple. The body went limp almost instantly.

"S-son?" the father looked down in disbelief at the now corpse of his child. Negan looked to the doctor.

"You have to cut that off." He pointed the knife to the doctor's forearm. "It'll spread if you don't."

"Y-you killed that boy…" the doctor backed away from him, pointing an accusing finger at him. "K-killed him."

"He was already dead," Negan tried to explain. "That was his fucking corpse that took a bite out of you."

"M-my boy," the father wept. He turned to glare daggers up at Negan. "You-you killed him. He was sick and you just killed him!"

"He was dead and I put him out of his misery." Negan said once again. "And if you want to keep that disease from spreading doc over here has to lose his arm."

The father leapt up and grabbed Negan by his jacket. "You're crazy! You're a murderer! You killed a sick child!"

"Get off me!" Negan swatted the man's hands away. "You would have a piece missing from your neck if I hadn't saved you just now."

"S-security!" the doctor yelled. "We need security here now!"

"Goddamn it!" Negan cursed as two hospital orderlies went to grab his arms. He struggled to free himself, and felt a fist hit his jaw.

"You murdered my son!" the father screamed as an orderly restrained him as well.

"I don't have time for this shit!" Negan seethed as he head butted one orderly, and kneed the other in the stomach. He grabbed the knife he used to put down the boy and bolted for the exit, making sure to grab his bat on the way out.

"Stop him!" a voice yelled as Negan made for the town's gate. He shouldered the two watch guards aside. He could hear the town in an uproar behind him, but he didn't look back as he continued running into the woods.

He stopped at an uprooted tree and took a minute to catch his breath. "Fuck…today…and every other day like this." How could this have happened? Walkers, here?

Actually, scratch that. He had an idea how. The Beowolf. The one that scratched him, it had licked some of his blood. That's when it had started acting weird. If it was the same Beowolf that bit that kid, then that boy would have the walker virus in him. Right?

He couldn't think of a more scientific way of explaining it. Negan sighed. He knew what he had to do. He took out the scroll he had been given.

" _Hello?"_ A tired Rick Grimes answered.

"H-hey, Rick! It's not a bad time to be calling is it?"

" _It's three in the morning,"_ Rick sardonically replied. _"What is it?"_

"Just relieved you picked up right now to tell the truth."

" _What is it?"_

"Listen, you know that solo mission I got assigned to? I mean of course you do. You're a very important man at that school aren't you? Well listen…" Negan swallowed a large lump in his throat. The sound of a gun being cocked sounded from behind him, and he knew it was aimed at his head. A glance behind him reveled it to be the boy's father: mister Greenfield. "I fucked up."

* * *

*I believe that the guy Negan killed in part 14 of his backstory was Alexander Davidson. I mean the man was kicked out of Alexandria for raping some of the women, and when he met Negan's group he was basically prostituting his women out. It could serve as a neat tie in to the original comic series.

A/N: Also once again, if you have any ideas on what characters semblances should be, let me know because they will come into play next chapter to conclude this mini arc of mine. Thank you for reading.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Walking Dead is owned by Image comics and Robert Kirkman and RWBY is owned and property of Rooster Teeth I own nothing.

* * *

Jacket? Check. Leg brace and prosthetic hand? Check. Hatchet/gun weapon? Check.

It had only been about fifteen minutes since he received that call from Negan before it cut off abruptly. It didn't sit right with him at all. Maybe another person should have went with him, just to keep an eye on him. And judging from the tone in which Negan spoke, something really was wrong.

As Rick scrambled to quickly dress himself, he became increasingly aware of Andrea beginning to stir from her slumber. "Mmm. Rick?"

"Shh," he hushed her. "Try and go back to sleep." Rick told her. It didn't work. Andrea sat up on the bed.

"Something's clearly up if you're all dressed. Rick, what's going on?"

"…I-got a call," he began.

"From who? That Ozpin guy?" Guessed Andrea.

"…From Negan," he begrudgingly admitted.

"And what did the resident psycho want to be calling this early?" It was clear that she wasn't happy. Neither was he.

"About that job he was on," Rick said. "Apparently some trouble happened."

"What kind of trouble?" Andrea inquired further.

"Don't know. The line just kind of cut off." It was ominous if there ever was. He didn't like it.

Andrea looked more than a bit skeptical. "And you're just going to help him?"

Rick put his jacket on. "I know what you're thinking. You think it's a trap." He honestly wouldn't put it past Negan to pull a move like that.

She furrowed her brow. "You don't think so?"

"I never said that," Rick defended. "I trust Negan about as far as I can throw him. I don't plan on going alone. I'll ask Jesus and Michonne if they'd be willing to go."

"Aren't you forgetting someone?" Andrea asked sounding a bit peeved. "Let's say a sniping expert?" She could not have been more clear.

"If it is a trap I don't-,"

Andrea cut him off. "Don't even say you don't want to put me in danger. It would be a lie, and we would both know it." It really would be a lie. Rick knew Andrea was perfectly capable of handling herself. It was really for his own peace of mind than anything else. Things were finally starting to look up; Rick didn't want anything to ruin that.

"We're survivors," Rick told her. "I want it to stay that way."

Her look softened. "You go want Jesus, I'll wake Michonne."

"What're you-?"

"You said it yourself, we're survivors. And survivors stick together." Andrea snickered. "You should know by now that you can't stop me from doing something. Even if that thing is stupid."

"Love you too," said Rick.

It went without saying that neither Michonne or Jesus were heavy sleepers, both were at their doors in less than a minute when they heard the knocks. Neither was exactly happy when Rick explained the situation, but both agreed to tag along just to play it safe. The only thing left now would be to get to that town; which meant going to Ozpin. Strangely, the cryptic headmaster did not appear to be too bothered, despite how early in the morning.

"It may take awhile to call a pilot in last minute, but it'll be done." Ozpin explained. "But I only ask that a seasoned Huntsman accompany you." Not a bad idea, a little help could go a long way.

"Who did you have in mind?" Rick was compelled to ask.

Minutes later

"Oh-ho! Quite the hour for an adventure I do say!" Professor Port declared.

* * *

Later that day: Beacon Library

"How long has it been?" Ruby whispered to her team as they observed their specimen from behind a bookcase.

"Going on four minutes." Yang held up her scroll which displayed a timer.

"I can't believe we're just…watching him." Said Weiss.

"Hey, it was your idea." Yang pointed out.

"I only said that he looked suspect was all!" Weiss whisper/yelled to Yang.

"He has been here every time I've come in." Blake said, sounding tired from her search into The White Fang's movements.

"Look!" Ruby pointed at the man. "He's about to-," he blinked.

"Aannnnnd, time!" Yang stopped her timer. "Four and a half minutes."

"He just beat his own record from before, and he doesn't know it!" Ruby exclaimed.

"What could he possibly be reading that's so fascinating?" Weiss couldn't help but wonder.

Blake squinted, trying to decipher the text. "It looks like a book on advanced robotics."

"You mean like Atlas tech or something?" Yang asked.

"Oohhh, he's an engineer. Probably." Ruby concluded.

The man looked up from his book, and towards where the four were watching him. "Emergency plan Delta!" Ruby quickly ordered. The four of them quickly grabbed books and sat down, making it appear they had been reading the entire time. Yang grabbed a motorcycle magazine, Blake had a romance novel titled _Howling,_ Weiss had a home decorating guide, and Ruby grabbed a dictionary. "It is a joyous day to share merriment with companions." She said flipping through the pages for added affect.

"Is he still looking?" Yang asked, still looking at her magazine.

Blake spared a glance. "No. He's back to reading."

"And you said he's been here every time you visit?" Weiss asked Blake.

"From what I've seen. He's actually here before I even show up. I think he might spend the night sometimes."

"So he's a homeless engineer," Ruby guessed. "Probably."

The "homeless engineer" was actually Dr. Eugene Porter. Eugene had taken to the library as often as he could to read up on the World of Remnant. He would be lying to himself if he said he never wanted to visit another world. What child wouldn't? He was an astronaut, without actually going into space. And from what he read, Remnant did not have any face hugging aliens that had plagued his nightmares after seeing one of those movies.

They had Grimm though, a species that preyed on negative emotion, one of the first things he learned about them by reading. Now, he was reading up on Atlas tech. More specifically their automated robotics, or what was public knowledge anyways. The basic design was like any man modeled robot you would see in a robot movie, almost like the Terminator. And just like Terminator, they all had a CPU chip installed in them. It was all so fascinating to Eugene. It was science fiction come to life, and he was going to learn it all.

* * *

"Something isn't right here," Michonne said to Rick as the group of five stood outside the gates to the town of Croftshire. The gates were closed. No sentinel on standby, it was closed with no one watching.

"Right you are indeed," Peter Port agreed. "A foul stench is in the air. And it is the work of no skunk. Maybe a badger, but certainly no skunk."

"What does it smell like?" Jesus asked, his tone cautious, and Rick knew why. If the vague call from Negan was anything to go by, they weren't going to like what they found beyond that gate.

"Why, it smells like someone opened a mausoleum," Port decided on. "But it will take more than just a foul smell to stop a true Huntsman, wouldn't you say Miss. Andrea?"

"…Sure," Andrea agreed, she found Port to be a bit weird in how he talked sometimes. "Rick, you know what this probably means, right?"

Rick nodded. "Yeah, I do." He brought out his hatchet. "Weapons out. This isn't going to be pretty." Both, Rick and Jesus pushed against the gate to open up the town. Andrea got down on one knee, rifle loaded and ready to go. Nothing came out though. Jesus hesitantly peeked around the open gate.

"It's clear." With Jesus leading the way, they filed in behind him with Andrea and Port taking up the rear.

"Just like the formation we used to use while hunting wild Boarbatusk I tell you," Port commented. Even with Port's story, it wasn't enough to put Rick off edge. The town was just too quiet right now. He led the way down a cobblestone street, his hatchet held tight by his robotic hand.

His eyes caught movement to his left and he signaled for the others to halt. In an alley, he could just make out a human shape. A shape that was heading right for him! _"Roogh!"_

His hatchet found it buried in its skull as the walker fell. Walker. Walker. Lurker. Creeper. Rick pulled his hatchet free. They were actually here.

"By Jove!" Port exclaimed. "Ozpin had told me of your tale, but even so… tis a zombie movie come to life!"

"Zombie?" Rick asked, not familiar with the word.*

"Call them what you want," Michonne said, she drew one of her swords. "It really doesn't matter any other way."

Port grimaced, but changed his double bladed axe into a gun. "And my hunter instincts tell me a blow to the head is the only way to stop them in their tracks."

"You catch on quick," Andrea looked through the scope of her rifle. "We got three more coming up behind us."

"Michonne and I will take them," Rick ordered. "Andrea, you keep on look out. Jesus and Pete, keep an eye out for any other survivors." He and Michonne met the three undead halfway down the cobblestone street, and with a swing of his hatchet and blow of her sword, they fell one by one.

"Our path straight is clear," Jesus called to Rick. He nodded in acknowledgement and they pressed on. After a few more turns down a few more side streets, they came at last to a juncture. However dead moaning was coming down both possible paths. "It would seem we've reached an impasse."

"Right you are, Mr. Monroe," Port agreed. "Both of these paths will lead us right to town square. A casual meet and greet turned corrupted by an unknown virus."

"How many do you think there are?" Michonne asked the million dollar question.

Port mulled it over. "Hmm. A Huntsman such as myself has visited this town once before during a mighty hunt. The town has little visitors this time of year. Hmm, perhaps less than a hundred."

"Less than a hundred?" Rick repeated. They had faced more when walkers had first gotten inside Alexandria. As long as they kept their wits about them, they should be able to keep this under control. "Alright, I have an idea. Jesus, I want you to scout ahead. Any walkers that aren't in the square, get them there. Michonne, go with him for support. Peter and Andrea, you two will be snipers. We'll gather them all together and you can pick them off."

"What about you?" Andrea questioned. "You're not going to go it alone are you?"

"No." Rick told her. "I'll be switching in between both groups. I'll go with Jesus and Michonne first, and then," he pressed the button that turned his hatchet into a revolver. "I'll come to help you out."

"Ah," Port said in admiration. "A Jack of all trades. Splendid!"

"We all know what we're doing then?" Rick asked, to which we received all nods of understanding. "Then let's get to work."

As Port and Andrea climbed to the roof of one building, the three others circled around on the side streets picking off any lurking walkers as they did so. Rick made sure to switch back to his hatchet. It wouldn't bode well for more walkers to be drawn to them because he fired off his gun. That job was reserved for their two snipers.

 _Kpow! Kpow!_

 _Choom! Choom!_

The shots from both snipers echoed across the small town. "Sounds like they have their work cut out for them," Jesus remarked at the sound of gunfire.

"Don't count us short just yet," Michonne swung her blade and sent a walkers head rolling. One almost snuck up on Jesus, only for him to grab its arm, fling it over his shoulder and bring a boot to the skull. "I can see why Aaron had a crush on you."

He looked perplexed. "Aaron had a crush on me?"

"Are you really talking about this?" Rick almost deadpanned. He knew his two friends could keep their cool, but there was still a time and place for everything. "Can I trust you two not to gossip while I go check on our sniper team?"

"Of course," Michonne replied. Rick nodded and doubled back the way that they had come. He kept his hatchet at the ready, just in case. And just in case proved to be the case. Out of one of the houses, a luring walker reached out to grab him, only to have Rick bury the slab in its skull. But it wasn't alone.

Three more walkers poured out of the house, reaching and clawing for him. _Crap!_ He thought as he had to switch to his gun mode to shoot the vastly approaching walkers. _Blam!Blam!Blam!_ his shots rang out. The three of them dropped to the ground.

" _MMoouuughh!"_ The sound of more coming his way.

"Damnit!" Rick cursed as he flung open the door to the nearest building and slammed it shut. He shouldn't have fired his gun. Now he was going to have to wait until this group of walkers passed by him before he left.

"Well," a voice spoke behind him. "Long time, no see." Rick turned around to see none other than Negan, sitting on a bench behind bars. They were in the jailhouse. "Do my eyes deceive me? Has Rick Grimes actually listened to my call for help and come to lend me a hand?" Rick was silent.

"Ah, shit. That wasn't too offensive was it?" Negan asked. "I mean you did kind of lose a hand, but upgraded to robogrip."

"…Just what are you doing in there?" Rick demanded. "And how are there walkers here?"

"Cutting right to the chase, huh?" Negan observed. "Fine. I came here friendly as a feckless fuck on free fuck day and- you know what? Long story short; Grimm got a taste of my blood, bit a kid, kid turned walker, bit a doctor, and now it's shitageddon."

"The walker virus… in our blood." Rick pondered that thought.

"Right on the nose there Officer Friendly," Negan confirmed. "At least that's my fucking guess."

"And I assume you're here because…" Rick left it hanging.

"Because I tried to stop this shit from spreading," Negan told him. "Put the kid down, then his daddy freaked out and pointed a gun at my head. Some guys from the town managed to stop him, and threw me in the slammer to wait trial. Fuck. That."

Rick hated to admit it, but he didn't think Negan was lying. The man behind the bars actually smiled a little. "And what are you smiling about?" Rick asked him.

"Heh, you would ask that, wouldn't you?" Negan stood up. "There were a few upsides to this." A black and burgundy ripple rolled over Negan's body, taking Rick by surprise. He had been here long enough to know what that was: Aura.

"Pretty fucking cool, huh?" Negan asked. "And that isn't even the best part. You see, getting thrown back in a prison cell seemed to have awoken something inside of me. So, why don't I just introduce you to my friend?"

Negan moved a few steps over so the early morning sun that was shining through the window could cast his shadow. But it was not Negan's shadow that was cast. In place of it was a feminine figure, completely black, except for the eyes, they were a void like white. "Don't be fucking rude," Negan addressed the shadow figure, "say hello." The shadow waved a hand; still staring at him with those soulless white eyes. "I figure this is what a semblance is. How fucking cool is that?"

Rick was still staring in shock. One of the worst people to have something like this, was someone like Negan. And the son of a bitch seemed to be relishing in it. Not wanting to give Negan the satisfaction, Rick decided to just change the subject.

"I assume you know what's going on outside?" Rick asked. "Do you know where any survivors might have gone?"

"Geez, quick to change the topic, aren't you?" Negan observed. "I heard people outside running and screaming about heading towards Town Hall. If their fucking smart, that's where they'll be holed up. They seemed smart enough to try to contain the outbreak. That's why they closed those big ass gates."

"And how do you know that?" Rick all but demanded.

"Guard here was talking to his buddy about it," Negan casually replied. "I tried convincing them to let me sort this shit out before it got any worse, and look what happened. Are you going to do the same, Rick?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…Where are the keys?" Rick reluctantly asked. Negan smiled wide.

"No need to trouble yourself there, Richie." Negan turned to his shadow lady. "Keys please." The shadow snaked its way silently along the wall, past the bars, and to the sheriff's desk. In its dark hand were a pair of keys, that jingled along in its grasp. The shadow woman made her way to Negan, still stuck to the wall, and dropped the keys at his feet. He picked them up. "Motherfucking room service."

Michonne plunged her blade through the skull of another walker Jesus had kicked her way. From the look of things, they had more or less put down all of the loose stragglers. All that would be left now were the assembled ones in the town square. Gun shots from Andrea and Port, still echoed out, but Michonne knew they would run out of ammo soon, and when that happened they would be stuck on the roof of some house. She turned to Jesus.

"We should make our way back to our two snipers." Jesus nodded. "Rick should have met up with them by now, and then we can power team whichever ones are left over."

"Sounds good to me," Jesus affirmed as he followed her back to where they had split off previously.

 _Blam!Blam!_

She recognized the sound of Rick's revolver firing.

 _KaChoom!KaChoom!_

That was a new one. It sounded like Port's gun, but not quite. This was someone new. Her and Jesus rounded a corner to town square to see many a dead walker splayed out on the cobblestones. Andrea and Port had been hard at work. She was able to spot Rick across from her and Jesus, but he wasn't alone. Standing next to him, with his own bat configured gun, was Negan. The two of them were moving along the outside of the walker herd, with Rick casting wary glances at Negan every few seconds.

"Jesus?" Michonne asked.

"Yeah?"

Michonne gave him her regular katana blade, and drew her Dust infused red one. "I hope you can use that. We're going to be fighting a path to Rick and that asshole." To prove he could, Jesus, slashed the katana through the head of a nearby walker.

"I think I'll be fine."

 _Blam!_

 _Slash!_

 _KrKrack!_

 _Kpow!_

 _Choom!_

 _Blam!_

 _Slissh!_

 _Krsplarguugh_

Gunshots, sword swings, and the cracking of skulls filled the morning air as the sun cast a warm glow over the town. The square was now littered with the corpses of the dead, with the exception of two, and the survivors who took refuge in the Town Hall. Seeing the two approaching walkers, Michonne flicked some blood off of her blade and moved to take them out.

"Don't worry," Negan called. She looked at him cautiously. "I got this." She could tell his voice lacked his usual charisma. _KrKrack! KrKrack!_ Two swings each for the two walkers.

"Oh ho!" Port exclaimed. "I haven't seen a battle of this caliber since the day my grandfather-," Michonne was thankful Rick cut him off.

"Professor, why don't you go see to the survivors in Town Hall?" Rick suggested. "For now, we managed to contain this outbreak. But from what I was told, a Grimm caused this. If we can, we're going to hunt it down for good." As rick led Jesus and Andrea out of the town, Michonne noticed Negan looking at the last two walkers he killed.

"Didn't you hear Rick?" Michonne asked him. "You don't want this happening again, do you?"

"Yeah, yeah I heard him just fine." Negan answered. "It's a real fucking shame though. I never got that apple pie." Negan walked away from the corpses, and Michonne saw he had been looking down at two blonde cat Faunus.

* * *

A/N: So that is the last chapter of my original arc, if you enjoyed my little break away from canon let me know, and also if you want to see more original arcs or have your own ideas for some let me know. Also Rick was confused by the word zombie because the walking dead is set in a universe where zombie isn't a thing hence why they call them walkers.


End file.
